Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Lowered to $37.00 at Morgan Stanley

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target dropped by Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $37.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.68% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on WMG. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.3 %

WMG traded up $0.10 on Monday, reaching $29.44. 773,700 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,196,339. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.77. The company has a market cap of $15.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at about $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.