Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Director Sells $1,083,600.00 in Stock

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.08 on Tuesday. 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 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.75.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial decreased their price target on 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, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

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.