Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Now Covered by Analysts at FBN Securities

Equities research analysts at FBN Securities began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. FBN Securities’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.49% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on WMG. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on 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 restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on 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. Two investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $32.26 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $36.64. The company has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.97.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. DigitalBridge Group Inc. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 896,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,790,000 after purchasing an additional 205,529 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,531,000 after buying an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at $2,613,000. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth about $5,545,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.