Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 563,942 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 138,251 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.11% of Warner Music Group worth $17,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,354,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,524,000 after buying an additional 6,002 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $485,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $674,000. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 88.4% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 2,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 126.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 293,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,997,000 after acquiring an additional 164,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total transaction of $3,812,077.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at $76,790,405.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 over the last three months. Company insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Tigress Financial dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.96. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The firm has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.38.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 72.00%.

Warner Music Group Profile

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin’ Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.