Insider Selling: Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) CEO Sells 135,324 Shares of Stock

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,725,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Max Lousada also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 3rd, Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of Warner Music Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $1,809,327.75.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $27.60 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $29.50 and a 200 day moving average of $31.53. The firm has a market cap of $14.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.37. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The company 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. 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. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.00%.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 94.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the first quarter worth approximately $82,000. 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.19.

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.