Macquarie Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Macquarie in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie’s target price points to a potential downside of 5.81% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WMG. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of WMG stock traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $31.85. 2,664,520 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,820,420. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.73 and a 200 day moving average of $30.71. The firm has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $73,000. 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.