Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Macquarie

Macquarie reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $30.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.79.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.05 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The firm has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.61, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.82 and its 200 day moving average is $30.61.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares in the company, valued at $64,113,588. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,679,000 after purchasing an additional 192,215 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 13,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at $523,000. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at $759,000. 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.