Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 42,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Barclays PLC increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,867,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $9,705,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,940,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,391,000 after buying an additional 981,912 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG opened at $28.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a PE ratio of 33.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $30.20 and its 200-day moving average is $29.13. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $23.34 and a one year high of $35.42.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were 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 was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price target on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.38.

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.