Amundi Cuts Stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Amundi lowered its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 38.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,396 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,130 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WMG. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.81.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $32.44 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.79 and a 200 day moving average of $31.87. The company has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group 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.