DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Acquires 14,000 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 25.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,712 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale's holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $2,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the fourth quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,917,879 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company's stock worth $347,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444,508 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company's stock worth $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company's stock worth $321,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,000 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 148.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,895 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wolfe Research raised Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.72.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WMG traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $31.27. 1,949,005 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,769,540. The company has a market cap of $16.30 billion, a PE ratio of 35.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.24. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $36.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 64.64%. The company's revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.76%.

About Warner Music Group

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.