JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $347.17 Million Stock Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 27.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,199,012 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,444,508 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.16% of Warner Music Group worth $347,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WMG. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company's stock worth $82,284,000 after acquiring an additional 49,166 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,247,719 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,354,000 after purchasing an additional 10,222 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,140,665 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,361,000 after purchasing an additional 437,077 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,549 shares of the company's stock worth $29,560,000 after buying an additional 48,772 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 632,454 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,606,000 after buying an additional 128,735 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. FBN Securities initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.14. 3,054,171 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,972,108. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $36.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.08.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is owned by 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.