Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes $716,000 Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 627.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,669,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,657,000 after purchasing an additional 684,864 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Honeycomb Asset Management LP grew its position in Warner Music Group by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Honeycomb Asset Management LP now owns 250,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,948,000 after purchasing an additional 59,000 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday, May 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.88.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $30.40 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.38. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $25.28 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.07. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 120.42%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 68.00%.

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.