Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives $35.81 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.81.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WMG shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,016,000 after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,284,000 after acquiring an additional 49,166 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 7,659.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 95,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,971,000 after purchasing an additional 94,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,560,000 after purchasing an additional 48,772 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 355.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 44,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 34,599 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMG stock opened at $32.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.96.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

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.