Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Acquires Shares of 19,768 Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 19,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at $43,628,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 33,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 1,746 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $413,000. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 521,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,655,000 after acquiring an additional 61,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,113,588. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.92.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.6 %

WMG stock opened at $30.92 on Tuesday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $29.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. As a group, analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.00%.

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.