Verition Fund Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 4.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 332,468 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,579 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $10,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth about $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $32.52 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.63. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.37.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WMG shares. Tigress Financial dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

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.