Fifth Third Bancorp Raises Stock Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 925.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 38,316 shares of the company’s stock after buying 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 reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,867,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,940,000. UBS Group AG lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 981,912 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake 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 valued at $12,975,000 after purchasing an additional 95,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,976,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,277,000 after purchasing an additional 802,694 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research 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. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.43.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $26.55 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.95. The company has a market capitalization of $13.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 52 week low of $23.34 and a 52 week high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 6.34%.The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.41%.

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.