UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Price

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $43.00 to $41.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 39.74% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Tigress Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $29.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.77. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently 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.