Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,010,000 shares, a growth of 32.8% from the December 31st total of 6,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $32.23 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.19 and its 200 day moving average is $30.76. The firm has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 32.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 563,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,285,000 after purchasing an additional 138,251 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 263.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 126,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 91,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.5% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 50,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 6,442 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMG. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.31.

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.