River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 28,198 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

River Road Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 164,340 shares of the company's stock after selling 28,198 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC's holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $5,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company's stock worth $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% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company's stock worth $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company's stock valued at $164,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514,715 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $82,284,000 after purchasing an additional 49,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 1.8 %

Warner Music Group stock opened at $33.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.12, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

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Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 2.15%. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is 73.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.81.

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.

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