Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.31.

Several research firms have recently commented on WMG. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% in the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514,715 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $15,766,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,198.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 507,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,886,000 after acquiring an additional 485,447 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.31, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.76.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.75%.

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.