Cooke & Bieler LP lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,891,179 shares of the company's stock after selling 126,208 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group makes up about 1.8% of Cooke & Bieler LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 1.14% of Warner Music Group worth $182,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company's stock worth $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company's stock worth $257,207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% in the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company's stock worth $164,779,000 after buying an additional 2,514,715 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,284,000 after buying an additional 49,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew 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 buying an additional 10,222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.81.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Warner Music Group
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. The trade was 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 valued at $2,124,602 over the last quarter. 72.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.0 %
WMG stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 943,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,848,529. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.14, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.66.
Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.
Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is 73.47%.
About Warner Music Group
(
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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