Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Guggenheim restated their buy rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $40.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital decreased 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 report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.72 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.77. The firm has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, 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. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $870,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,881,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,659.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 95,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,971,000 after acquiring an additional 94,598 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,560,000 after acquiring an additional 48,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.