Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Short Interest Down 20.0% in March

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,890,000 shares, a decrease of 20.0% from the February 28th total of 9,860,000 shares. Currently, 5.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $31.35 on Tuesday. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.07. The company has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (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 anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the fourth quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000,000 after buying an additional 5,917,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,169,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444,508 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP increased its position in Warner Music Group by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 148.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,895 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.76.

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.