GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 1,404 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 379.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,774 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $55,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 424,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,274,000 after acquiring an additional 81,799 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 239.3% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 45,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 32,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,284,000 after acquiring an additional 49,166 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,352,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $29.34 on Monday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $15.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.77.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on WMG shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

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.