Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Short Interest Down 20.0% in March

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,890,000 shares, a decline of 20.0% from the February 28th total of 9,860,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 122.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WMG. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The stock has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.07.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

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.