Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 407 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 74.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 953 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter worth about $43,628,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 33,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 1,746 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $413,000. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 521,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,655,000 after buying an additional 61,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG stock opened at $30.44 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.77 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.09.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Tigress Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at $82,191,171.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. Corporate 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.