44 Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

44 Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 41,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,430,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 6,227.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,173,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,027,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139,067 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,110,000 after buying an additional 1,837,801 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted 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 worth $63,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,596 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 112.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,823,000 after buying an additional 1,180,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,485,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WMG shares. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, December 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 1.7%

Warner Music Group stock opened at $27.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.28 and a 200 day moving average of $30.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.24. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $34.63.

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.