Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $29.80, but opened at $31.00. Warner Music Group shares last traded at $31.05, with a volume of 376,084 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.10 billion, a PE ratio of 37.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,284,000 after buying an additional 49,166 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew 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 buying an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,766,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 355.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 44,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 34,599 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is 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.