Brokerages Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Target Price at $36.17

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.17.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Tigress Financial dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $1,809,327.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at $82,191,171.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.2% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth about $371,000. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth about $30,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Warner Music Group by 7.2% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 67.6% in the third quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 49,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,565,000 after purchasing an additional 20,160 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $32.38 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.00%.

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.