Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Sees Large Volume Increase

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday . Approximately 2,133,994 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 10% from the previous session’s volume of 1,943,979 shares.The stock last traded at $29.81 and had previously closed at $29.83.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WMG shares. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Redburn Atlantic restated a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, May 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.13.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.06.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 120.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.00%.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $82,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.