Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.40.

WMG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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, November 22nd.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $29.30 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.79. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 35.30, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 73.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 49,166 shares during the period. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at about $606,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $15,766,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.