Traders Purchase Large Volume of Warner Music Group Put Options (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 32,022 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 10,263% compared to the average daily volume of 309 put options.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of WMG stock traded down $0.32 on Tuesday, reaching $30.13. 416,424 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,864,751. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.47 and a 200-day moving average of $30.46. The company has a market cap of $15.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.81, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.30. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 120.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 57.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.76.

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.