Guggenheim Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $44.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 38.15% from the company’s previous close.

WMG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Macquarie reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $31.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.78 and its 200 day moving average is $30.65. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $1,809,327.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,909,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,191,171.50. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 in the last three months. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 239.3% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 45,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 32,300 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,284,000 after purchasing an additional 49,166 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,352,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,373,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $304,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.