FIL Ltd Buys 13,913 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

FIL Ltd grew its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,568,446 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,913 shares during the period. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $172,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,169,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444,508 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,088,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 62.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,140,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,361,000 after purchasing an additional 437,077 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,881,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,333 shares of company stock worth $1,072,432 over the last 90 days. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $28.05 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $32.93 and a 200 day moving average of $32.03. 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 current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upgraded 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 research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. FBN Securities assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.76.

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.