Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Now Covered by Morgan Stanley

Analysts at Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research note issued on Monday, StockNewsAPI reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 22.54% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WMG. Loop Capital raised their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.18.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $35.09 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.08. The company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 39.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.43. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $23.62 and a 12-month high of $38.05.

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

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Capital City Trust Co. FL grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 9,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 94.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.