Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Guggenheim

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective reduced by Guggenheim from $44.00 to $40.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Guggenheim’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 35.18% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on WMG. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Tigress Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded down $1.44 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,877,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,568,691. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,272.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 242,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,420,000 after buying an additional 231,892 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.8% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 85,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,619,000 after purchasing an additional 11,035 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $338,000. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 88.4% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 2,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $674,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.