Warner Music Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 18,395 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 4,629% compared to the average volume of 389 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.85 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $27.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 199,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,409,606. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $23.34 and a fifty-two week high of $35.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.59 and its 200-day moving average is $29.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $14.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.27.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 89.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,511,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200,362 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 178.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,435,000 after buying an additional 2,040,425 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 12.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,110,000 after buying an additional 1,837,801 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 5,055.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,860,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,375,000 after buying an additional 1,824,596 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 112.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after buying an additional 1,180,256 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.