Brokerages Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Target Price at $35.31

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.31.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.80 on Wednesday. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.77. The firm has a market cap of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 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.