Brown Advisory Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 28.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,820 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,090 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,560,000 after purchasing an additional 48,772 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,881,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $218,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $321,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 51,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 7,608 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Warner Music Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 target price (down previously from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.19.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG opened at $30.46 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43. The company has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.24. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $36.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.09.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.21). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 7.14%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.76%.

Warner Music Group Profile

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.