Max Lousada Sells 135,324 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Max Lousada also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 3rd, Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of Warner Music Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $1,809,327.75.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $27.60 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $14.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.50.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 72.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.19.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,679,000 after purchasing an additional 192,215 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $160,156,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after buying an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.