Timothy Matusch Sells 1,000 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Stock

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. This represents a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Timothy Matusch also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 14th, Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of Warner Music Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $29.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.08, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.08. 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 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WMG shares. FBN Securities assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.76.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DigitalBridge Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 896,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,790,000 after buying an additional 205,529 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,613,000. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth $5,545,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.