Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 19,226 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $596,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,659.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 95,833 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,971,000 after purchasing an additional 94,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 953,549 shares of the company's stock worth $29,560,000 after acquiring an additional 48,772 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 84.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,616 shares of the company's stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 14,507 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 744,349 shares of the company's stock worth $23,074,000 after acquiring an additional 14,149 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ WMG opened at $27.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52 week low of $26.34 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67.

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 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is 82.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. This represents a 1.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research raised Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. FBN Securities assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Warner Music Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.50.

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.

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