The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs increased its price target for Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating on the stock.
• Various analysts have varying ratings on the stock, with a consensus target price of $34.00 and most analysts rating it as a "Moderate Buy."
• Warner Music Group reported a revenue of $1.69 billion for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations by 8.7% year-over-year.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $28.00 to $31.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's target price points to a potential downside of 4.70% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $34.00 price target on Warner Music Group and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Warner Music Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.88.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG traded up $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,472,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,357,548. The firm has a market cap of $16.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.23 and a 200-day moving average of $30.18. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.30). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 18,142 shares of the company's stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 1,756 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,843 shares of the company's stock worth $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,805 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $512,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 148.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company's stock worth $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Sarl raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 163,724 shares of the company's stock worth $5,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,077 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.