Morgan Stanley Begins Coverage on Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)

Stock analysts at Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 23.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WMG. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.18.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $34.69 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.06. Warner Music Group has a 52-week low of $23.62 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $17.97 billion, a PE ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.43.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 128.86%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $75,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 627.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.