Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on 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. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.76.

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Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.2 %

WMG traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.25. 1,435,406 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,057,114. The company's fifty day moving average price is $33.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.08. 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 capitalization of $16.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business'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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 122.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position 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 worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company's stock.

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.