Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on WMG. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a sell rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the company from $17.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $37.18.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $32.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $16.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.63 and its 200 day moving average is $34.12. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $23.62 and a 52 week high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. Research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FIL Ltd raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,232 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,319,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,545,000 after buying an additional 1,651,571 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,690 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth $43,628,000. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 306.2% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,375,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036,663 shares in the last quarter. 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.