River Road Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 192,538 Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

River Road Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 192,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,026,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total transaction of $1,809,327.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at $82,191,171.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMG stock traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, reaching $32.36. 1,153,451 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,818,964. The business's 50 day moving average price is $30.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.68. The company has a market capitalization of $16.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This is an increase from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is 69.23%.

About Warner Music Group

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.