Engineers Gate Manager LP Boosts Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 97.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,176 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 51,017 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $2,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,511,000 after buying an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,208,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,743,000 after acquiring an additional 56,727 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 88.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,521,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,867,000 after acquiring an additional 713,578 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,275,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,580,000 after purchasing an additional 16,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,449,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.25.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $29.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.33. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 85.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.03) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.45 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. This is an increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.49%.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. is a global music entertainment company that operates through two principal businesses: recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music operations discover, develop, market and distribute music from a broad roster of artists through labels including Warner Records, Atlantic Records, Elektra Music Group and Parlophone.

The company’s music publishing business, Warner Chappell Music, manages and administers copyrights for songwriters and composers. Warner Music Group also provides artist and label services, digital distribution, licensing, marketing, physical and digital sales, and other services that support the commercial use of recorded music and musical compositions.

Warner Music Group serves artists, songwriters, labels, streaming platforms, broadcasters, brands and other music-industry partners in markets around the world.