Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 642,590 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 207.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 952,316 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 642,590 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $24,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 valued at $510,511,000 after buying an additional 2,200,362 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,880,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,363,000 after acquiring an additional 47,760 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,885,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,168,000 after acquiring an additional 701,829 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,391,000 after acquiring an additional 981,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Warner Music Group by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,976,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,277,000 after purchasing an additional 802,694 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of WMG stock opened at $28.06 on Tuesday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $23.34 and a twelve month high of $35.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.30.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted 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. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.43.

About Warner Music Group

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.