Capital International Ltd. CA Grows Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Capital International Ltd. CA lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 117,095 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Capital International Ltd. CA’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $3,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,333 shares of company stock valued at $1,072,432 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $29.12 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The company has a market capitalization of $15.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $32.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.90.

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMG. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group dropped 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, FBN Securities began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.76.

Warner Music Group 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.