Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Earns Buy Rating from Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $44.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on WMG. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Macquarie dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $31.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.68.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $1,809,327.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,191,171.50. This trade represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.