Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 6,023 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 246,211 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,023 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $7,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 9,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.81.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602 over the last quarter. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $34.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.90 and its 200 day moving average is $31.30.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

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.