Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $27.54 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.18. Warner Music Group has a 52-week low of $23.34 and a 52-week high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5,055.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,860,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,596 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,867,000. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,391,000 after buying an additional 981,912 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $9,705,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,940,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.