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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $35.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.18. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a PE ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. 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 (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.81.

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.