UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Price

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $43.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

WMG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Tigress Financial lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG opened at $29.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The stock has a market cap of $15.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.35, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.87 and a 200-day moving average of $30.77.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. Warner Music Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 424,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,274,000 after buying an additional 81,799 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 239.3% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 45,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 32,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,284,000 after acquiring an additional 49,166 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.