Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Acquired by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 361,100 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.07% of Warner Music Group worth $11,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WMG. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 41.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,903,000 after buying an additional 3,881,684 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397,232 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,690 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,628,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 19.6% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,122,000 after purchasing an additional 831,114 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,113,588. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 in the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $30.92 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.92, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05. 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 (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WMG. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Atlantic reiterated 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. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.92.

Warner Music Group Company 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.