Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives $36.17 Average PT from Brokerages

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.17.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMG. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Macquarie decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Tigress Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares in the company, valued at $64,113,588. The trade was a 15.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at $759,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 289.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 92,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 69,089 shares during the last quarter. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $606,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth approximately $15,766,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $31.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.71. Warner Music Group has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.23%.

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.