Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Coverage Initiated at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on WMG. FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price (down from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.95.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $26.37 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm has a market cap of $13.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $28.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.87.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. This trade represents a 1.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 13,378,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,427,000 after purchasing an additional 7,483,839 shares in the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,917,879 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,296,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,552,000 after acquiring an additional 4,097,688 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,000 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.