Warner Music Group’s (WMG) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Guggenheim restated their buy rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $40.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WMG. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup increased 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $32.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $31.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.77.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. On average, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,284,000 after purchasing an additional 49,166 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,207,000 after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 355.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 44,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 34,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 14,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

About Warner Music Group

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.