Loop Capital Boosts Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $38.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective boosted by Loop Capital from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Loop Capital currently has a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on WMG. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Warner Music Group from a sell rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $36.88.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $32.97 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.03. The company has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $23.62 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 242,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,193,000 after acquiring an additional 7,097 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $486,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1,416.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 7,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,357,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,922,000 after acquiring an additional 24,192 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.