Perpetual Ltd Grows Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Perpetual Ltd increased its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 632,454 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 128,735 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd owned 0.12% of Warner Music Group worth $19,606,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 74.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $73,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $30.24 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The company has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a PE ratio of 36.43, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05.

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 73.35% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.