Independent Franchise Partners LLP Sells 126,801 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Independent Franchise Partners LLP lessened its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,153,384 shares of the company’s stock after selling 126,801 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group comprises about 3.0% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP owned 2.52% of Warner Music Group worth $448,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 6,227.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,173,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139,067 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $576,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837,801 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 5,055.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,860,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,375,000 after buying an additional 1,824,596 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after buying an additional 1,180,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,485,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WMG. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $27.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.28 and its 200 day moving average is $30.61. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $34.63.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 38.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 131.03%.

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.