Guggenheim Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)

Guggenheim restated their buy rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $40.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WMG. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $33.78. The company had a trading volume of 925,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,977,772. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $36.81. The firm's 50 day moving average is $31.23 and its 200-day moving average is $30.80.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 72.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company's stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 10,422 shares of the company's stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 10,336 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company's stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company's stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

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.