Perpetual Ltd Acquires 128,735 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 632,454 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,735 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $19,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted 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 buying an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,594,994 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Linonia Partnership LP purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth about $21,132,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on WMG shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $30.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The company has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, 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 transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.