Perpetual Ltd Takes $15.77 Million Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 503,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,766,000. Perpetual Ltd owned about 0.10% of Warner Music Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter valued at about $160,156,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new position in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 85.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Tigress Financial dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.33.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $31.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a PE ratio of 31.03, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.38. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.34 and a 200-day moving average of $30.91.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 72.00%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 2,725,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,790,405.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 over the last ninety days. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.