Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.67.

WMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Tigress Financial cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $160,156,000. D1 Capital Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter worth $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after acquiring an additional 2,594,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $31.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.78.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.