Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Acquires 14,507 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 84.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,616 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,507 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Perpetual Ltd boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 632,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,606,000 after purchasing an additional 128,735 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,223,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,016,000 after buying an additional 2,370,973 shares in the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.58 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.26 and its 200-day moving average is $30.75. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $27.06 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.75%.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.31.

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.