Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Purchases 14,507 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 84.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,616 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 14,507 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 563,942 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,285,000 after buying an additional 138,251 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at $1,049,000. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at $205,000. Xponance Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter worth about $308,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 263.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 126,780 shares of the company's stock worth $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 91,937 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI lowered 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 report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,250,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,764,263. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.77. The company has a market capitalization of $16.47 billion, a PE ratio of 38.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

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.