Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,208,005 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,727 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $67,743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 423,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,975,000 after purchasing an additional 95,956 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at $297,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at $295,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 112.1% in the fourth quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 23,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 12,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,410,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.3%

WMG stock opened at $30.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.27. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $23.34 and a 52-week high of $35.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. Warner Music Group’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.41%.

Warner Music Group Company 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.