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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 2,455,842 shares traded hands 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WMG shares. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.6 %

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 has a market cap 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.81.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently 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.