AKO Capital LLP Sells 2,538,131 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

AKO Capital LLP cut its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 37.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,323,994 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,538,131 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group comprises about 1.9% of AKO Capital LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. AKO Capital LLP owned about 0.83% of Warner Music Group worth $134,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMG. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $218,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $32.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $36.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.97.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on WMG. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of 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. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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 investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $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. 72.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Warner Music Group

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.