Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,208,005 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,727 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 0.42% of Warner Music Group worth $67,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 423,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,975,000 after acquiring an additional 95,956 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $295,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 112.1% during the fourth quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 23,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 12,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,410,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $30.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.21. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $23.34 and a 1 year high of $35.42. The company has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 6.34%.The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.