Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Has $245.53 Million Stock Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 43.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $245,531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 10,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Warner Music Group by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 77,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.56 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.02. The stock has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. Equities analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Profile

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.