Blue Trust Inc. Sells 1,167 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 40.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,697 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,167 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $53,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted 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 purchasing an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.81.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $34.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.30. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $18.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. Sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group 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.