SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 66,676 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 91.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,128 shares of the company’s stock after selling 66,676 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth approximately $82,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 66.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on WMG. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Macquarie reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.73 on Thursday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.81. The company has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.00%.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total value of $1,809,327.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,191,171.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 73.35% 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.