Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 317,346 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,403 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Warner Music Group worth $9,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,284,000 after buying an additional 49,166 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 355.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 44,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after acquiring an additional 34,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 14,507 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of 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. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602 over the last ninety days. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $33.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $17.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

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.