Bank of America Corp DE Grows Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 42.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 574,242 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 170,316 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $14,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 178.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,425 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 112.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,256 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,449,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,821,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $27.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.42. 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 Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 85.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.03) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMG. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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 raised their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.77.

About Warner Music Group

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.