Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s Why

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 2,455,842 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 31% from the previous session’s volume of 1,874,702 shares.The stock last traded at $32.18 and had previously closed at $32.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WMG shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.81.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.87.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 127.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 194,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 109,180 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $247,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,133,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 50,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,584,000 after purchasing an additional 3,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 657.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 10,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 8,717 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.