Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 42,210 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,590 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 23.9% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 424,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,274,000 after buying an additional 81,799 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,223,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $29.83 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. Research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. 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. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,333 shares of company stock valued at $1,072,432. 72.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WMG. UBS Group lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. FBN Securities began coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.47.

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.