Sanford C. Bernstein Begins Coverage on Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)

Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Warner Music Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, FBN Securities initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.95.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.37. 1,319,897 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,907,599. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.87. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.21). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is presently 82.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 72.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company's stock worth $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised 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 valued at $2,971,000 after buying an additional 94,598 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 5.4% in the 4th 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 period. DigitalBridge Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 205,529 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company's stock worth $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. 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.