The Goldman Sachs Group Downgrades Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) to Neutral

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $28.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 2.53% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 28th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.50.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $27.31 on Monday. Warner Music Group has a 52-week low of $26.34 and a 52-week high of $36.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares in the company, valued at $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,333 shares of company stock worth $1,072,432 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 101.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,453 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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