Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Raised to $36.00 at Bank of America

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on WMG. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.82.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of WMG opened at $34.24 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.09. The company has a market capitalization of $17.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $25.56 and a 1-year high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 39.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 36.6% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.1% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 127.0% in the first quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 13,378,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $419,427,000 after purchasing an additional 7,483,839 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.3% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 18.1% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,025,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,181,000 after acquiring an additional 310,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.