Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 707,102 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,062,688 shares of the company’s stock after selling 707,102 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 2.52% of Warner Music Group worth $404,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services boosted 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 buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 77,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 792 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. FBN Securities began coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.6 %

WMG stock opened at $31.14 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.20 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $33.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.08.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Warner Music Group 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.