Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 2,455,842 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the previous session’s volume of 1,874,702 shares.The stock last traded at $32.18 and had previously closed at $32.48.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on WMG. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.81.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. Analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.