44 Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

44 Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,788 shares during the quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $35.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.16. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted 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 return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,333 shares of company stock valued at $2,124,602 over the last 90 days. 72.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on 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. Two 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.