Macquarie Lowers Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $30.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Macquarie from $32.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Macquarie’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 3.82% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ WMG traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $31.19. 61,901 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,869,377. The stock has a market cap of $16.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.38. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.38 and a 200-day moving average of $30.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total value of $1,809,327.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,191,171.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 over the last three months. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. FIL Ltd raised its position in Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,232 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,669,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,657,000 after buying an additional 684,864 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 627.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $716,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth $45,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.