Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 1,476,515 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the previous session’s volume of 1,466,743 shares.The stock last traded at $29.73 and had previously closed at $31.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WMG shares. 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. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Tigress Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results 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). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth $30,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in 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 during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $73,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.