Warner Music Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 8,171 call options on the company. This is an increase of 3,453% compared to the typical daily volume of 230 call options.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG traded down $0.22 on Friday, hitting $29.71. 187,635 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,772,791. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.39 and a 200-day moving average of $30.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.49 billion, a PE ratio of 34.16, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.24. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 7.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 36.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,296,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $479,552,000 after purchasing an additional 4,097,688 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,379,667 shares of the company's stock valued at $450,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,979 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 127.0% in the first quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 13,378,864 shares of the company's stock valued at $419,427,000 after purchasing an additional 7,483,839 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,371,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $414,504,000 after purchasing an additional 82,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WMG shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Warner Music Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Warner Music Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.56.

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.