Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Given New $41.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its target price reduced by UBS Group from $43.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

WMG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $29.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.87 and a 200-day moving average of $30.77. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $15.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.35, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 10,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 3.2% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,428,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 11,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.