Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Updates for Warner Music Group (WMG)

Posted by Joseph Casey on Jan 14th, 2025

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ: WMG) in the last few weeks:

1/13/2025 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $37.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
1/10/2025 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at UBS Group AG from $43.00 to $41.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
1/9/2025 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at Evercore ISI from $36.00 to $35.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
1/8/2025 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at Guggenheim from $44.00 to $40.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
12/4/2024 – Warner Music Group had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim. They now have a $44.00 price target on the stock.
11/29/2024 – Warner Music Group had its price target raised by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $31.00 to $34.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
11/25/2024 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at Loop Capital from $38.00 to $35.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
11/22/2024 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $41.00 to $40.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
11/22/2024 – Warner Music Group had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Macquarie. They now have a $30.00 price target on the stock.
11/22/2024 – Warner Music Group had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $32.00 to $31.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
11/22/2024 – Warner Music Group had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim. They now have a $44.00 price target on the stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,578,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,280,990. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a PE ratio of 35.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.77. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG – Get Free Report) 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,223,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,016,000 after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 23.9% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 424,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,274,000 after acquiring an additional 81,799 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.