Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Trims Stake in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 27.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,476,607 shares of the company’s stock after selling 549,120 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned 0.28% of Warner Music Group worth $50,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 120.1% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 85.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on WMG. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $28.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $34.94.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 38.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 131.03%.

Warner Music Group Company 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.