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

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.7692.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,511,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,880,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,363,000 after purchasing an additional 47,760 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,885,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,168,000 after purchasing an additional 701,829 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in Warner Music Group by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,391,000 after buying an additional 981,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Warner Music Group by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,976,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,277,000 after buying an additional 802,694 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $28.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $23.34 and a 12 month high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.17. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 85.50% and a net margin of 9.20%.The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 63.49%.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.