UBS Group Cuts Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $41.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target lowered by UBS Group from $43.00 to $41.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $29.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.20 billion, a PE ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.77. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased 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 acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594,994 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,514,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $160,156,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.