Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.67.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Tigress Financial reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced 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 note on Friday, November 22nd.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG opened at $31.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.78.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth about $14,129,000. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter worth $2,317,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,272.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 242,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,420,000 after buying an additional 231,892 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $901,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 85,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,619,000 after purchasing an additional 11,035 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is 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.