Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives $35.76 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.7647.

WMG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Warner Music Group from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 120.1% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 57.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the first quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $31.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.38. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $36.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37. The company has a market cap of $16.66 billion, a PE ratio of 56.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.32.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.30). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 39.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Warner Music Group’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

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.