Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Lowered to $32.00 at Macquarie

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Macquarie from $36.00 to $32.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Macquarie’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.19% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WMG. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, May 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 3.2 %

Warner Music Group stock traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $29.04. 2,222,410 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,968,578. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.97. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $28.68 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The firm has a market cap of $15.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 120.42% and a net margin of 8.28%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the first 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,679,000 after acquiring an additional 192,215 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the fourth 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 period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 1,739,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,445,000 after purchasing an additional 27,252 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.