Shares of Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) received a lift Thursday after one Wall Street analyst upgraded the stock.

Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield upgraded the company to Neutral from a Sell, sending shares up. Warner rose 44 cents, or 2.77 percent, to $16.34 percent in late afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The analyst said that shares had fallen previously due to declining music sales and uncertainty regarding a potential merger with EMI group.

The key question becomes whether or not the weakness experienced in Q1 will persist throughout the entire year and if the industry improves, how much relative to Q1, he wrote in his note.

Warner has been in intermittent merger talks with London-based media giant EMI Group. A $4.1 billion March 2 bid for the company was rejected.

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