River Road Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 43.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 641,621 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 193,721 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.12% of Warner Music Group worth $19,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,055.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,860,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,596 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,867,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,391,000 after buying an additional 981,912 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter worth about $9,705,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,940,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $28.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $23.34 and a 12-month high of $35.42.

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

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 89.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.