Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Raised to "Overweight" at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Warner Music Group has been upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from "equal weight" to "overweight," with a new target price of $39.00, indicating a potential upside of nearly 20% from the current stock price.
• Analysts have varying target prices for Warner Music Group, with UBS Group setting it at $45.00 and Citigroup raising its estimate from $33.00 to $41.00, reflecting a generally positive outlook for the stock.
• The company reported earnings that missed expectations, with a loss of ($0.03) EPS for the last quarter, although its revenue increased 8.7% year-over-year to $1.69 billion.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $39.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price indicates a potential upside of 19.71% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on WMG. UBS Group set a $45.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.53.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $32.58 on Tuesday. 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 5.37, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.16, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.10.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.30). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%.The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 57.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 528.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,884 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.