Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG Shares Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 423,049 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 95,956 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $12,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 774.6% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 23.5% in 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. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 61.8% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $30.80 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $29.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.22. The company has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.