Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 25.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 632,454 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 128,735 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd owned about 0.12% of Warner Music Group worth $19,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,016,000 after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company's stock valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its position in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,418,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594,994 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 91.5% during the 3rd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company's stock worth $164,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514,715 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company's stock worth $82,284,000 after purchasing an additional 49,166 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie restated a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.31.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Warner Music Group
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 73.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Warner Music Group Price Performance
Warner Music Group stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $30.02. 1,552,212 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,909,343. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $31.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.75. The firm has a market cap of $15.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. 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 (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. Warner Music Group's revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.
Warner Music Group Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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