Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $29.80, but opened at $31.00. Warner Music Group shares last traded at $31.05, with a volume of 376,084 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.2 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.05, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 32.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 563,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,285,000 after acquiring an additional 138,251 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $308,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 263.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 126,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,886,000 after buying an additional 91,937 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.