Insider Selling: Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Director Sells 35,000 Shares of 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 transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $31.07 on Thursday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WMG. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.67.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth about $160,156,000. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at about $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,122,000 after buying an additional 831,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.