Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.7333.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stance Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 50,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 10,230 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 284.7% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 3,436 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 43.3% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 641,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,679,000 after purchasing an additional 193,721 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 706,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,660,000 after purchasing an additional 153,761 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $307,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $23.77 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.07 and a 200-day moving average of $29.95. The firm has a market cap of $12.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $23.34 and a twelve month high of $34.63.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 38.33% and a net margin of 4.43%.The business had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is presently 131.03%.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.