Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $44.00 price objective on the stock.

WMG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Tigress Financial lowered their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Macquarie lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reissued 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. Two investment 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.79.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The stock has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a PE ratio of 38.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.61.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 in the last three months. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $759,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $606,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the third 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. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $15,766,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,956,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.