Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $13.58 Million Stock Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 442,708 shares of the company’s stock after selling 52,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $13,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WMG. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 6,227.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 178.5% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,425 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 12.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837,801 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,055.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,860,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,256 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WMG shares. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday, December 15th. Scotiabank raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $24.20 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $23.34 and a 1 year high of $34.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average is $28.20 and its 200-day moving average is $30.07. The company has a market capitalization of $12.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.33% and a net margin of 4.43%.The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 131.03%.

Warner Music Group 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.