Rhumbline Advisers Has $7.42 Million Stock Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 2,272.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 242,098 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 231,892 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers' holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $7,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company's stock worth $435,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,881,684 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company's stock worth $391,679,000 after acquiring an additional 192,215 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company's stock worth $186,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 1,739,692 shares of the company's stock worth $57,445,000 after purchasing an additional 27,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of WMG traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 726,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,218,608. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. The company has a market cap of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.31.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This is an increase from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WMG. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Macquarie reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares in the company, valued at $64,113,588. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.