Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 35,439.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,822 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,679 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 74.5% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,790.5% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth $45,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $86,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,790,405.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. Corporate insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.14 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.95. The firm has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a PE ratio of 31.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on 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. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, July 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

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.