Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG Shares Acquired by ABN Amro Investment Solutions

ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 89.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,036 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,793 shares during the quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,867,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth $1,940,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,391,000 after acquiring an additional 981,912 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 423,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,975,000 after purchasing an additional 95,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 396,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,170,000 after purchasing an additional 46,482 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.43.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG stock opened at $26.55 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.96. The company has a market capitalization of $13.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $23.34 and a fifty-two week high of $35.42.

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.