Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Lowered to $40.00 at Guggenheim

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its target price decreased by Guggenheim from $44.00 to $40.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on WMG. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 5.6 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $29.30 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.98 and a 200 day moving average of $30.79. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,272.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 242,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,420,000 after buying an additional 231,892 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 85,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,619,000 after purchasing an additional 11,035 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $338,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 88.4% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $674,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.