Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on WMG. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $33.60 on Monday. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $23.34 and a 1-year high of $34.63. The company has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 39.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.00.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 120.1% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Warner Music Group by 774.6% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 355.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.