Warner Music Group Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 20,010 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 3,585% compared to the average volume of 543 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday, May 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.88.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $30.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.28 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.76. The company has a market capitalization of $15.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 120.42% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 41.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,881,684 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,679,000 after acquiring an additional 192,215 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,232 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 1,739,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,445,000 after acquiring an additional 27,252 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.