Barclays Boosts Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $30.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) had its target price raised by Barclays from $28.00 to $30.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

WMG has been the topic of several other reports. 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 report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $34.00 price objective (down from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Warner Music Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.95.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.7%

WMG traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,419,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,785,620. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $27.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.24. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $25.56 and a 1-year high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.76%.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. USS Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.3% during the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 29,448 shares of the company's stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,388 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. Capital International Ltd. CA boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 117,095 shares of the company's stock worth $3,630,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased 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. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.