Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Buys New Shares in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 43,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,321,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 23.5% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.1% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 34,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 20.1% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 2.5%

WMG opened at $31.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $23.34 and a fifty-two week high of $35.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $29.34 and its 200 day moving average is $29.22.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 27th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.38.

About Warner Music Group

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.