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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.06.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. FBN Securities initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $25.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $25.87 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a market capitalization of $13.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 82.76%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,296,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,552,000 after purchasing an additional 4,097,688 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,379,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $450,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,979 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 127.0% during the first quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 13,378,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,427,000 after buying an additional 7,483,839 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,371,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,504,000 after buying an additional 82,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,479,000 after buying an additional 1,500,000 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by 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.