Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $1.49 Million Stock Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,130 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,350 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 84.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,000 after buying an additional 14,507 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 632,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,606,000 after buying an additional 128,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,223,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on 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. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $34.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.38, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.3 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 72.21% 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.