Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives $35.81 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.81.

WMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $34.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.30. The company has a market cap of $18.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,333 shares of company stock valued at $2,124,602 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.