Pacer Advisors Inc. Makes New $1.27 Million Investment in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 41,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,265,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 33,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 1,746 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $413,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter valued at $13,884,000. Finally, Capital International Ltd. CA lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 107,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,858,000 after purchasing an additional 28,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $3,812,077.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 in the last quarter. 73.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.92.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.20 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $38.05. The company has a market cap of $16.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.37.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 72.00%.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin’ Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.