Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Lowered to $36.00 at Evercore ISI

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective cut by Evercore ISI from $40.00 to $36.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on WMG. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a buy rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They set an outperform rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Macquarie decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, May 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $37.59.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ WMG traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $28.34. 1,116,907 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,982,879. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 120.42% and a net margin of 8.28%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,881,684 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,232 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 87.1% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,690 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,628,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 462.7% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,013,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,450,000 after buying an additional 832,990 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.