Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.92.

WMG has been the subject of several research reports. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.30 on Thursday. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $38.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,113,588. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $82,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth $86,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.