River Road Asset Management LLC Acquires 193,721 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

River Road Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 43.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 641,621 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 193,721 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $19,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 77,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 7,119 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 120.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 4,100 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 948,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,743,000 after buying an additional 50,035 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 193,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,269,000 after buying an additional 36,380 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 293.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 638,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,287,000 after acquiring an additional 475,929 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG opened at $28.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $23.34 and a 12 month high of $35.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.18.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMG. Zacks Research raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

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.