XTX Topco Ltd trimmed its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) by 64.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,769 shares of the company's stock after selling 28,101 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Broyhill Asset Management bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter worth $2,601,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 148.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company's stock worth $10,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,895 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 5,895,025 shares of the company's stock worth $182,746,000 after buying an additional 839,754 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth about $512,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 246,929 shares of the company's stock worth $7,655,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
WMG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. FBN Securities initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 28th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $32.00 target price (down from $37.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.47.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on WMG
Warner Music Group Stock Performance
Shares of WMG traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $29.51. The stock had a trading volume of 250,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,948,716. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $15.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32.
Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.
Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is 73.47%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total value of $31,430.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,333 shares of company stock valued at $1,072,432. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Warner Music Group Profile
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Free Report)
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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