Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a sell rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Monday, May 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $38.12.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $30.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $31.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.33. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $28.30 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 120.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 68,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 19,832 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at about $537,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 175,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,802,000 after buying an additional 2,161 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth about $759,000. Finally, Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter worth about $229,000. 96.88% of the stock is 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.