Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Price

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Macquarie lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.85 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The firm has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at $76,790,405.88. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $759,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $606,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,766,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,956,000. Institutional investors 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.