Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Macquarie

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by Macquarie in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie’s price objective points to a potential downside of 5.81% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Tigress Financial cut 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 report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.85 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.78 and a 200 day moving average of $30.65. The company has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at about $759,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $606,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,766,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,956,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.