JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $40.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Macquarie cut their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.79.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $32.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.61. The stock has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at about $160,156,000. D1 Capital Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at about $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 19.6% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,122,000 after purchasing an additional 831,114 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.