Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 52,685 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 442,708 shares of the company’s stock after selling 52,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.08% of Warner Music Group worth $13,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 5,055.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,860,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,375,000 after buying an additional 1,824,596 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 762.5% during the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 74,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 65,714 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter worth approximately $2,418,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 6,227.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,173,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,027,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenland Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,556,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMG. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank raised Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Moffett Nathanson started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of WMG opened at $24.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $23.34 and a one year high of $34.63. The company has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 131.03%.

About Warner Music Group

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.