Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Cut to $31.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WMG. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.88.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $27.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.68. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $26.34 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,333 shares of company stock worth $1,072,432. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 10,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Ltd. CA increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 117,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,630,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is 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.