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

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,864 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,281 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $88,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,881,684 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,679,000 after buying an additional 192,215 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new position in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $160,156,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 19.6% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,122,000 after acquiring an additional 831,114 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.20 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 69.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $12,007,352.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares in the company, valued at $64,113,588. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic restated a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

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.