Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Rating Reiterated by Bank of America

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Bank of America in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $30.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $33.00. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential downside of 3.66% from the company’s current price.

WMG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Tigress Financial decreased 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 report on Thursday, September 12th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $31.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a PE ratio of 31.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. Research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,113,588. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 over the last 90 days. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth about $160,156,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Warner Music Group by 41.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,903,000 after acquiring an additional 3,881,684 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth about $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its position in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,418,000 after acquiring an additional 2,594,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its position in Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,232 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by 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.