Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.95.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. This trade represents a 1.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 7,659.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 95,833 shares of the company's stock worth $2,971,000 after purchasing an additional 94,598 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,549 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,560,000 after purchasing an additional 48,772 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,272.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 95,304 shares of the company's stock worth $3,040,000 after buying an additional 93,530 shares during the period. DigitalBridge Group Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 896,445 shares of the company's stock worth $27,790,000 after purchasing an additional 205,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 88.0% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 59,437 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,863,000 after buying an additional 27,821 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ WMG opened at $27.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 7.14%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is currently 82.76%.

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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