Choreo LLC Makes New Investment in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 14,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WMG. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 84.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 14,507 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 632,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,606,000 after buying an additional 128,735 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,223,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMG. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays cut their target price 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 increased their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $33.69 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $31.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.80. The firm has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.81.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

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.