Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives $36.17 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. 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 company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.17.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,725,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at about $759,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 289.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 92,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,066,000 after acquiring an additional 69,089 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 valued at $417,657,000 after acquiring an additional 684,864 shares in the last quarter. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at about $606,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 108.7% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 70,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 36,480 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.3 %

WMG stock opened at $32.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.74.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

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.