Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Boosts Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 101,521 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,759 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $3,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMG. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,881,684 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,198,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,068,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397,232 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 87.1% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,713,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,690 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,628,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 19.6% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,122,000 after acquiring an additional 831,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WMG shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Tigress Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic restated a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $76,790,405.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of Warner Music Group stock opened at $30.44 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 101.32%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 72.00%.

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.