Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts give Warner Music Group a “Moderate Buy” consensus: Fourteen of 18 analysts rate the stock a buy, while four recommend holding it. The average 12-month price target is $38.43, above the reported $25.96 share price.
• Recent financial results exceeded expectations: Warner Music reported quarterly revenue of $1.73 billion, up 16.7% year over year, and EPS of $0.44 versus the $0.30 analyst consensus.
• Institutional ownership is substantial: Institutional investors own 96.88% of WMG, with major firms including JPMorgan, Millennium Management and UBS increasing their positions. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share, representing a 2.9% yield.

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.4286.

WMG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price objective on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Warner Music Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective 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.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $510,511,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 178.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,435,000 after buying an additional 2,040,425 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company's stock worth $75,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,256 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,449,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,821,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $25.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.54, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $23.34 and a 12 month high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 6.34%.The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.07 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.41%.

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.

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