Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Cut to $41.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $43.00 to $41.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 39.93% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Tigress Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $29.30 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.78. The firm has a market cap of $15.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin’ Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.