Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Now Covered by Jefferies Financial Group

Research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.94% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Monday, May 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.12.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $30.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.04 and a 200 day moving average of $33.35. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $28.30 and a twelve month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 120.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,903,000 after acquiring an additional 3,881,684 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 87.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,263,690 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at $43,628,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 462.7% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,013,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,450,000 after purchasing an additional 832,990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.