Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Given "Buy" Rating at Guggenheim

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $44.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim's target price would indicate a potential upside of 38.15% from the company's current price.

WMG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Macquarie lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,666,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,561,219. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.65. The company has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $3,812,077.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at $76,790,405.88. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,812 shares of the company's stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 10,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 17,548 shares of the company's stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 3.2% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,743 shares of the company's stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin' Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.