Millennium Management LLC Grows Stake in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. by 2,000.6%, acquiring an additional 771,740 shares, resulting in ownership of 810,315 shares valued at approximately $25.4 million.
• Research analysts have expressed a favorable outlook on Warner Music Group, with ratings of "buy" or "neutral" and price targets ranging from $31 to $45 per share.
• Warner Music Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.19, raising its annualized dividend to $0.76 with a yield of 2.2%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 133.33%.

Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 2,000.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 810,315 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 771,740 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.16% of Warner Music Group worth $25,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 2.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 326,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,234,000 after acquiring an additional 9,103 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,272.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 95,304 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,040,000 after purchasing an additional 93,530 shares in the last quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 896,445 shares of the company's stock worth $27,790,000 after acquiring an additional 205,529 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 88.0% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 59,437 shares of the company's stock worth $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 27,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter valued at about $1,157,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Warner Music Group stock traded up $0.03 on Wednesday, reaching $33.39. The company had a trading volume of 75,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,881,717. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $31.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.06. The firm has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%.Warner Music Group's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Redburn Atlantic raised Warner Music Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $45.00 price objective on Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.65.

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.