Raymond James & Associates Has $11.37 Million Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 1,041.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 363,347 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 331,511 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.07% of Warner Music Group worth $11,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,881,684 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company's stock worth $391,679,000 after buying an additional 192,215 shares during the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company's stock worth $247,418,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594,994 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter worth approximately $160,156,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 19.6% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company's stock worth $155,122,000 after purchasing an additional 831,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Macquarie dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $12,007,352.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,289,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,113,588. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.20. 3,196,858 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,840,924. The stock has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $30.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.71. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is presently 69.23%.

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.