Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Warner Music Group from buy to hold, even as most analysts remain positive on the stock.
• Other firms recently kept or raised bullish views: JPMorgan and UBS lifted price targets and assigned overweight/buy ratings, while the overall consensus still sits at Moderate Buy with a $38.43 target.
• Warner Music Group reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $0.44 versus $0.30 expected and revenue of $1.73 billion, up 16.7% year over year.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 target price on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Warner Music Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.43.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $28.33 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $30.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.07. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $23.34 and a 1-year high of $35.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 23.5% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,729 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 34,350 shares of the company's stock worth $936,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 3,783 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,062 shares of the company's stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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