Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Stock Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 87.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 42,200 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,642 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 178.5% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,435,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,425 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,823,000 after buying an additional 1,180,256 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,449,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,821,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $26.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.30. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $23.34 and a 1-year high of $35.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.47.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 85.50% and a net margin of 9.20%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.03) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 60.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.77.

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.