Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Position Lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Warner Music Group by 36.6%, owning approximately 15.3 million shares valued at $479.6 million.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" on Warner Music Group, with price targets ranging up to $34.00.
• Warner Music Group recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.19 per share, reflecting a 2.4% dividend yield.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 36.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,296,700 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,097,688 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.94% of Warner Music Group worth $479,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WMG. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 18,142 shares of the company's stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 66,843 shares of the company's stock worth $2,072,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 246,929 shares of the company's stock worth $7,655,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 4th quarter worth about $512,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 148.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company's stock worth $10,674,000 after buying an additional 1,058,895 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted 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 report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 report on Friday. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $34.00 price objective (down from $35.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.83.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.64 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.76 and a 200-day moving average of $30.14. The firm has a market cap of $16.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.26. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $25.56 and a twelve month high of $36.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%. The company's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 126.32%.

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.

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