River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 28,198 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

River Road Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 164,340 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,198 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $5,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth about $310,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 4.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 86,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,720,000 after buying an additional 3,919 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 127.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 194,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 109,180 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth $247,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $33.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.42 and a 200 day moving average of $31.66. The company has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.12, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. 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. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of 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, Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

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.