JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 2,370,973 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 37.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.69% of Warner Music Group worth $274,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Warner Music Group by 54.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 768,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,568,000 after purchasing an additional 271,524 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,129,000. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,317,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Warner Music Group by 2,272.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 242,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,420,000 after purchasing an additional 231,892 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $901,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $38.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.79.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMG. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Loop Capital reduced their price target 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. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.67.

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.