Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Grows Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 2,699.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group accounts for about 1.2% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $257,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at about $160,156,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,903,000 after acquiring an additional 3,881,684 shares during the period. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at about $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after acquiring an additional 2,594,994 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 19.6% during the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,122,000 after acquiring an additional 831,114 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,790,405.88. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 over the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $33.21 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Macquarie reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective 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. Tigress Financial reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Company 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.