Zacks Research Downgrades Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) to Hold

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

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on WMG. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price target on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $27.54 on Monday. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $23.34 and a one year high of $35.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.18.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 774.6% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 355.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 740.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 1,665 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.