Lincoln E. Benet Sells 35,000 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.08 on Monday, reaching $31.08. The company had a trading volume of 1,189,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,807,236. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.10 billion, a PE ratio of 37.45, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $32.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.75.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. Warner Music Group's revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.2% in the second quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,812 shares of the company's stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 10,422 shares of the company's stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 2.8% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 17,548 shares of the company's stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,743 shares of the company's stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMG. Tigress Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.67.

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.