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

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 25.68% from the stock’s current price.

WMG has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI reduced 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 report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ WMG traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $29.44. The company had a trading volume of 773,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,196,339. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.87 and a 200 day moving average of $30.77. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $73,000. 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.