Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research report report published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WMG. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a sell rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday, May 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $38.12.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $30.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.04 and a 200 day moving average of $33.32. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $28.30 and a 1 year high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 120.42% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 627.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.