Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Has Average Target Price of $38.27 According to Brokerages

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.27.

A number of analysts have commented on WMG shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Zacks Research cut Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 574,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,666,000 after purchasing an additional 170,316 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 1,072.2% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 580,609 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,717,000 after acquiring an additional 531,077 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,199,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,217,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 97.8% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 103,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,793,000 after purchasing an additional 51,017 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.29 and a 200-day moving average of $28.80. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $23.34 and a one year high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.17. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 85.50%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.03) earnings per share. Warner Music Group’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group Corp. is a global music entertainment company that develops, records, distributes and promotes music. Its recorded-music operations work with artists across a range of genres and release music through labels including Atlantic Records, Warner Records, Elektra Music Group and Parlophone. The company distributes music through streaming platforms, digital services, physical formats and other channels.

Warner Music Group also operates Warner Chappell Music, one of the world’s major music publishing companies.