Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.4286.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in Warner Music Group by 774.6% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 355.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in Warner Music Group by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $27.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. Warner Music Group has a 52-week low of $23.34 and a 52-week high of $35.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.10. The company has a market capitalization of $14.39 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.30.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.41%.

About Warner Music Group

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.