Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,388 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Capital International Ltd. CA increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 117,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,630,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 122.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 101.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 732 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 22,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 77,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after buying an additional 792 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ WMG opened at $26.34 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $36.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $27.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.25.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 64.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 82.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target (down from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. FBN Securities assumed coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Warner Music Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.95.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin’ Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.