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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 10,032 put options on the company. This is an increase of 2,758% compared to the typical volume of 351 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after buying an additional 2,397,232 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,319,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,571 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,690 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $43,628,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 306.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,375,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 2.3 %

WMG traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $34.93. 883,043 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,490,188. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $23.62 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The stock has a market cap of $18.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.06. 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 (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.13). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Sell-side analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.27%.

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.