Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG Shares Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 88.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,521,800 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 713,578 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $38,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on WMG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.43.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 4.0%

WMG opened at $27.61 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.93. 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 company has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.30. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52 week low of $23.34 and a 52 week high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.41%.

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.