Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Short Interest Up 41.3% in March

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,660,000 shares, a growth of 41.3% from the February 29th total of 2,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Redburn Atlantic raised Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.27.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $716,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 627.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,669,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,657,000 after acquiring an additional 684,864 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 511,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,323,000 after acquiring an additional 2,054 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $33.02 on Friday. 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 has a twelve month low of $23.62 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.77. The firm has a market cap of $17.10 billion, a PE ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.47.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.