Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Analysts at FBN Securities

FBN Securities assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a sector perform rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG stock opened at $31.56 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group 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 owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. 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.