Brokerages Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Target Price at $35.47

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.50.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. FBN Securities initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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 report on Friday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,333 shares of company stock worth $1,072,432 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Services raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 10,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Ltd. CA raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 117,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,630,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG opened at $27.48 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $26.34 and a 12-month high of $36.64. The stock has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.45 and a 200-day moving average of $31.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.21). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.76%.

About Warner Music Group

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.