GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 1,404 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 379.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,774 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $160,156,000. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $84,281,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 37.1% in 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 during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.69.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG opened at $29.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.87 and a 200 day moving average of $30.77.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.34 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.75%.

Warner Music Group 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.