PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Buys 878 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 45.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,820 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 878 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $88,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,000 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% in the fourth quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000,000 after buying an additional 5,917,879 shares during the period. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 1,850,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,379,000 after buying an additional 37,955 shares during the period. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 1,014,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,802,000 after buying an additional 51,021 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $32.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.58 and a 200 day moving average of $30.19. The company has a market cap of $16.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.91, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.26.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.30). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%.The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 126.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMG. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.88.

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.