Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,840,938 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,073,639 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $393,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMG. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 120.1% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 57.5% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 774.6% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 6.5%

NASDAQ WMG opened at $30.35 on Thursday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1-year low of $23.34 and a 1-year high of $34.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30. The company has a market capitalization of $15.85 billion, a PE ratio of 52.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.01.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 38.33% and a net margin of 4.43%.The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Scotiabank upgraded Warner Music Group from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.00.

Warner Music Group 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.