JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 2,444,508 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 27.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,444,508 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $347,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 904,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,320,000 after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 11,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank bought a new position in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $976,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,198.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 507,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,886,000 after buying an additional 485,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at about $354,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WMG shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.56 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. As a group, analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

Insider Activity

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

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.