Blue Trust Inc. Sells 6,281 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,864 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,281 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $88,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WMG. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $307,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $73,000. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $15,766,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $414,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $214,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,113,588. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WMG shares. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of 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. Macquarie lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Tigress Financial dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WMG stock opened at $32.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.71.

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

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. 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 2.24%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 69.23%.

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.