Warner Music Group’s (WMG) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $44.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 37.54% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on WMG. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Tigress Financial cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Macquarie decreased 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded up $0.81 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.99. 742,900 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,812,111. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.57 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $12,007,352.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,289,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,113,588. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.