Rothschild & Co Redburn Upgrades Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) to Neutral

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Rothschild & Co Redburn from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn's price objective points to a potential downside of 3.89% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Warner Music Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Warner Music Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.72.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,174,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,767,398. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43. The company has a market capitalization of $16.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.47 and a 200-day moving average of $30.10.

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

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 29,448 shares of the company's stock valued at $924,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 10.6% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 117,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,630,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.7% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 77,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.