Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Given “Equal Weight” Rating at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $32.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $37.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on WMG. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.47.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $27.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.88.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,333 shares of company stock worth $1,072,432 over the last 90 days. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 122.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 101.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.