Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 34,578 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 925.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,316 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,578 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 23.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 34,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 3,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $26.55 on Monday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $23.34 and a 12-month high of $35.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $29.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.30.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 6.34%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 89.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.43.

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.