Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 10.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,379,667 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,316,979 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $450,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 18,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Warner Music Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,072,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 148.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Sarl grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 163,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,075,000 after purchasing an additional 11,077 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37. The company has a market cap of $16.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.26. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $29.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.18.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 126.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $34.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Warner Music Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.88.

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.