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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 2,133,994 shares traded hands during mid-day 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMG has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.06.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,903,000 after buying an additional 3,881,684 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,679,000 after buying an additional 192,215 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after buying an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 87.1% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,125,000 after buying an additional 1,263,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 1,739,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,445,000 after buying an additional 27,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.