Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have given Warner Music Group Corp. an average rating of "Moderate Buy", with ten rated as hold, eight as buy, and one as strong buy.
• The company's stock has a recent price target averaging $34.35, reflecting a positive sentiment driven by an increasing number of institutional investors acquiring shares.
• Warner Music Group recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.19 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.2%, despite a higher payout ratio of 133.33%.

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.6471.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMG. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Warner Music Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,348,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 35,639 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $596,000. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $33.36. 1,510,886 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,681,768. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $25.56 and a 1-year high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.06.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 39.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This is a boost from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

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.