Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $29.80, but opened at $31.00. Warner Music Group shares last traded at $31.05, with a volume of 376,084 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WMG. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 4.3 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.74. The company has a market capitalization of $16.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group 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 transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 84.8% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 14,507 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 632,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,606,000 after purchasing an additional 128,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,223,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.