Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock Position Lowered by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,705 shares of the company’s stock after selling 306 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.70 on Wednesday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.37, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 72.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.81.

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.