Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Director Valentin Blavatnik Sells 28,230 Shares

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $35.26. 1,946,632 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,946,701. The company has a market capitalization of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% in the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,917,879 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514,715 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. 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.