Citigroup Cuts Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $40.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target decreased by Citigroup from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, December 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.88.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $30.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.84 billion, a PE ratio of 43.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.25. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 47.78% and a net margin of 5.44%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 108.57%.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837,801 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,914,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,637,000 after buying an additional 363,092 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 14.3% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,920,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 178.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,435,000 after buying an additional 2,040,425 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,823,000 after buying an additional 1,180,256 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.