Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 price target on Warner Music Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group set a $33.00 price target on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.94.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ WMG opened at $30.44 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $15.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.59 and its 200-day moving average is $30.86.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 5.44% and a return on equity of 47.78%. Warner Music Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $576,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837,801 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 4.2% during the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,914,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,637,000 after buying an additional 363,092 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in Warner Music Group by 14.3% during the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 178.5% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,435,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,256 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.