Vanguard Group Inc. Has $576.11 Million Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 12.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,837,801 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $576,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 120.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Bank of America cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 3.7%

WMG stock opened at $27.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.02. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $36.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.24.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 38.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, 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 will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 131.03%.

Warner Music Group Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.