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

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the sixteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.31.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WMG. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on 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. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,016,000 after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,284,000 after acquiring an additional 49,166 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% during 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 period. Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $15,766,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 355.3% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 44,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 34,599 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of WMG stock opened at $31.58 on Wednesday. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.75. The stock has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.75%.

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.