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 Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares in the company, valued at $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

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

NASDAQ WMG opened at $29.48 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.09. The company has a market capitalization of $15.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.08, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of 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. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.76.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors increased its position in Warner Music Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,371,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,504,000 after buying an additional 82,149 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444,508 shares during the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,000 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the fourth quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000,000 after buying an additional 5,917,879 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.