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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 10,032 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,758% compared to the typical volume of 351 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 555,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,345,000 after purchasing an additional 34,331 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $258,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 21.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 81,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,705,000 after acquiring an additional 14,668 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 108.7% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 70,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 36,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital City Trust Co. FL increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 9,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $35.09 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $23.62 and a 52 week high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.08.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 77.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.18.

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.