Covalis Capital LLP Purchases 109,898 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Covalis Capital LLP raised its holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 170.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 174,320 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,898 shares during the quarter. Covalis Capital LLP’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $5,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444,508 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at $27,088,000. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 5,895,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,746,000 after purchasing an additional 839,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. FBN Securities started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered 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 report on Thursday, January 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of Warner Music Group 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. This trade represents a 1.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,333 shares of company stock valued at $1,072,432 in the last ninety days. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 1.9 %

WMG stock opened at $29.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.90.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.47%.

About Warner Music Group

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.