Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 27,055 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has significantly decreased its shares in Warner Music Group by 66.9%, reducing its holdings to 13,362 shares, valued at $419,000 following the sale of 27,055 shares.
• Warner Music Group reported a quarterly earnings miss with $0.07 EPS, falling short of analyst estimates of $0.28 EPS, while revenue was $1.48 billion, slightly below expectations.
• The stock has shown a market cap of $14.92 billion with a P/E ratio of 32.91 and a recent trading price of $28.63, amid active modifications in institutional investments.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 66.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,362 shares of the company's stock after selling 27,055 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,371,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $414,504,000 after acquiring an additional 82,149 shares during the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its stake 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 valued at $321,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its position in Warner Music Group by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 5,895,025 shares of the company's stock worth $182,746,000 after purchasing an additional 839,754 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised Warner Music Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $34.00 target price (down from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.72.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 0.1%

Warner Music Group stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.86. The stock had a trading volume of 1,178,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,845,136. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.43.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.21). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 64.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is presently 82.76%.

Warner Music Group Company 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.