Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Sold by Jackson Square Partners LLC

Jackson Square Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 634,446 shares of the company’s stock after selling 127,309 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group makes up approximately 2.1% of Jackson Square Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Jackson Square Partners LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $19,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 7.0% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 50,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 3,317 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 657.9% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 10,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 8,717 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after buying an additional 3,314 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 904,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,320,000 after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 11,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.81.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.3 %

WMG opened at $32.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.92. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $36.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 32.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.47%.

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.