Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.3750.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 774.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 355.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 740.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,665 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $28.52 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $23.34 and a 1 year high of $35.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.88 billion, a PE ratio of 33.55, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.27.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. Warner Music Group’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.41%.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.