Townsquare Capital LLC Takes Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group Corp., purchasing 75,176 shares valued at approximately $2.36 million.
• After recent ratings adjustments, Warner Music has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with an average target price of $34.00.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.19 per share, indicating a boost from its previous dividend, with a current dividend yield of 2.4%.

Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 75,176 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,357,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 18,142 shares of the company's stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,756 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,843 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 148.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,895 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Sarl raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 163,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,075,000 after acquiring an additional 11,077 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

NASDAQ WMG traded up $0.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.53. 2,472,731 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,357,548. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37. The company has a market cap of $16.96 billion, a PE ratio of 57.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.26. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $29.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.18.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.30). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 39.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 126.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMG has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Warner Music Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.88.

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.