Veracity Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Veracity Capital LLC lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,221 shares during the quarter. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 563,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,285,000 after buying an additional 138,251 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the second quarter worth approximately $1,956,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,265,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $205,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $30.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.74. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.