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

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $44.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 38.58% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMG. Loop Capital dropped 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. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.67.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $31.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.05 and a 200 day moving average of $30.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,113,588. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.