Invesco Ltd. Sells 20,178 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Invesco Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 225,612 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,178 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.'s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $6,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company's stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMG. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $32.00 price objective (down from $37.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.47.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock traded down $0.08 on Wednesday, reaching $30.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,298,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,950,825. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The firm's 50-day moving average is $31.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.79.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.36%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,333 shares of company stock valued at $1,072,432 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

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.