Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target Lowered to $35.00 at Evercore ISI

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price target decreased by Evercore ISI from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on WMG. Tigress Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.33.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 5.6 %

WMG opened at $29.30 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 35.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.78. 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 has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The firm 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%. Warner Music Group’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after acquiring an additional 2,594,994 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 91.5% in the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth $160,156,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.