Pullen Investment Management LLC Sells 495 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Pullen Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 1.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,239 shares of the company’s stock after selling 495 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Darsana Capital Partners LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $186,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 27.9% during the fourth 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 period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.9% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 148.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,895 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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. This trade 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. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $26.34 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $13.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $34.00 price target (down previously from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.95.

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.