Scientech Research LLC Makes New $599,000 Investment in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Scientech Research LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 154,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,110,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the second 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. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 17,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WMG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. 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 objective on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reiterated 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. Tigress Financial cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,289,771 shares in the company, valued at $64,113,588. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $31.20 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $16.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.01.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. Research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.00%.

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.