Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Sold by Olympiad Research LP

Olympiad Research LP lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 9.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 988 shares during the quarter. Olympiad Research LP’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,026,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 76,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,428,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 2,163,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,711,000 after purchasing an additional 163,247 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $371,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Macquarie reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,113,588. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $32.89 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $17.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.68.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. On average, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is presently 69.23%.

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.