Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Lifted to Strong-Buy by Stonex Financia

Stonex Financia upgraded shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WMG. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.27.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $30.69 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.59. The stock has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.40. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $23.34 and a 52 week high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.17. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 85.50% and a net margin of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.03) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Daytona Street Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.4% in the third quarter. Daytona Street Capital LLC now owns 65,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,776,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 38.6% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 19,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 5,533 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $372,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 1,072.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 580,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,717,000 after purchasing an additional 531,077 shares during the period. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 11,943,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,302,000 after purchasing an additional 93,199 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group Corp. is a global music entertainment company that operates through two primary businesses: recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music operations discover, develop, market and distribute music from artists and songwriters through labels including Warner Records, Atlantic Records and Parlophone, as well as a range of regional and specialty labels.

The company’s music publishing division, Warner Chappell Music, manages copyrights and licenses compositions for use in recordings, films, television, advertising, video games and other media.