Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Analysts at FBN Securities

FBN Securities initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a sector perform rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock.

WMG has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie restated 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 decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.2 %

WMG stock opened at $31.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.05. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. As a group, analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the fourth quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917,879 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% during the 3rd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514,715 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,169,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444,508 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised 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 worth $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,000 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.