Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.81.

A number of research firms have commented on WMG. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective 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.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.75 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.81.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. Research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.47%.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602. 72.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.