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

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

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $35.26 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.20. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of 35.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 10,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 10,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.81.

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.