Analysts Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target at $35.67

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.67.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their target price 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. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $31.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $32.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued 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 2.32%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

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.