Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Has Average Target Price of $38.25 According to Brokerages

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.25.

WMG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WMG stock opened at $27.14 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.31. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $23.34 and a 1 year high of $35.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200,362 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 11,943,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,302,000 after acquiring an additional 93,199 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,208,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,743,000 after acquiring an additional 56,727 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 88.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,521,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,867,000 after purchasing an additional 713,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth $35,449,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group Corp. is a global music entertainment company that operates through two principal businesses: recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music operations discover, develop, market and distribute music from a broad roster of artists through labels including Warner Records, Atlantic Records, Elektra Music Group and Parlophone.

The company’s music publishing business, Warner Chappell Music, manages and administers copyrights for songwriters and composers. Warner Music Group also provides artist and label services, digital distribution, licensing, marketing, physical and digital sales, and other services that support the commercial use of recorded music and musical compositions.

Warner Music Group serves artists, songwriters, labels, streaming platforms, broadcasters, brands and other music-industry partners in markets around the world.