Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Makes New $9.71 Million Investment in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Key Points

• Tudor Investment Corp ET AL opened a new position in Warner Music Group, buying 284,941 shares worth about $9.71 million, roughly 0.05% of the company.
• Several large institutions also boosted stakes—Vanguard now owns ~16.91M shares (~$576.1M), Millennium added ~2.04M shares and UBS more than doubled its holding—leaving institutional/hedge fund ownership at about 96.88%.
• WMG missed Q earnings (EPS $0.33 vs. $0.40 estimate) but beat on revenue ($1.84B, +10.4% YoY); the company pays a $0.19 quarterly dividend (annualized $0.76, yield ~2.9%) and analysts have an average rating of Moderate Buy with a $35.53 price target.

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 284,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,705,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL owned about 0.05% of Warner Music Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 12.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company's stock worth $576,110,000 after buying an additional 1,837,801 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 4.2% during the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,914,756 shares of the company's stock worth $303,637,000 after buying an additional 363,092 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.3% during the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,000,000 shares of the company's stock worth $217,920,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 178.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company's stock worth $108,435,000 after buying an additional 2,040,425 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 112.8% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,226,151 shares of the company's stock worth $75,823,000 after buying an additional 1,180,256 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WMG shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $35.53.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ WMG opened at $26.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a PE ratio of 44.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.52 and a 200 day moving average of $29.61. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $23.34 and a 1 year high of $34.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.30, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 38.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is 131.03%.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company's publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG's activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.

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