Warner Music Group’s (WMG) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Guggenheim in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $36.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim’s target price indicates a potential upside of 32.65% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on WMG. Zacks Research lowered shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.25.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $27.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.31. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $23.34 and a one year high of $35.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.03) earnings per share. Warner Music Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 worth $510,511,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.8% during the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 11,943,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,302,000 after buying an additional 93,199 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,208,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,743,000 after buying an additional 56,727 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 88.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,521,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,867,000 after buying an additional 713,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,275,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,580,000 after buying an additional 16,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

About Warner Music Group

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.