Invesco Ltd. Decreases Stake in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Invesco Ltd. lowered its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 30.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 157,054 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,558 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $4,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% in the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917,879 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 15,296,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,552,000 after acquiring an additional 4,097,688 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,379,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $450,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,979 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on WMG shares. Bank of America upgraded Warner Music Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Warner Music Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.88.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $33.92 on Thursday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $36.64. The company has a market cap of $17.68 billion, a PE ratio of 59.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.24.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

Warner Music Group Company 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.