Brokerages Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target at $35.81

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.81.

WMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,333 shares of company stock valued at $2,124,602. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DigitalBridge Group Inc. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 896,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,790,000 after buying an additional 205,529 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,531,000 after buying an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,613,000. Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,545,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WMG stock opened at $33.70 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.40. The company has a market cap of $17.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. Equities analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

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.