Castleview Partners LLC Purchases New Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $45,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at about $82,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $32.32. The stock had a trading volume of 147,130 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,845,596. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. The company has a market capitalization of $16.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.23%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total value of $1,809,327.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,191,171.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WMG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Macquarie decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

Warner Music Group 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.