Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Lowered to $32.00 at Macquarie

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target trimmed by Macquarie from $36.00 to $32.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

WMG has been the subject of several other research reports. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Monday, May 6th. They set an overweight rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a buy rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, July 12th. They set an outperform rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $37.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $28.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 174,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,960,226. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $30.52 and a 200-day moving average of $32.94. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.86 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released 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. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 120.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 68.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 154,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,110,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 17,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital City Trust Co. FL boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 9,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during 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.