Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on WMG. UBS Group set a $33.00 target price on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.88.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $28.01 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.45. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The stock has a market cap of $14.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 39.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.08 EPS. Analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is presently 108.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $377,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 49.2% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 4,525 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 170.1% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 3,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at $1,404,000. Institutional investors 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.