Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $27.54 on Monday. 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 twelve month low of $23.34 and a twelve month high of $35.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.56 and its 200-day moving average is $29.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.27.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. Warner Music Group’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.07 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 42.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 574,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,666,000 after purchasing an additional 170,316 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 1st quarter worth about $149,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 148.1% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 125.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 178,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,570,000 after buying an additional 99,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 1,954.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 54,893 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after buying an additional 52,221 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.