Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,628,263 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 49,166 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.51% of Warner Music Group worth $82,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 101.0% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 82,977 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,543,000 after buying an additional 41,687 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 66.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,475 shares of the company's stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth $1,226,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at $10,491,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 54.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 768,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,568,000 after purchasing an additional 271,524 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMG. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Tigress Financial lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.16. 4,096,434 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,809,746. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05. The stock's fifty day moving average is $32.23 and its 200-day moving average is $30.75. The stock has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.54, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

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.