Comerica Bank Reduces Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Comerica Bank lowered its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 48,026 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,719 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,371,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,504,000 after buying an additional 82,149 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444,508 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $245,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 16.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,644,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,009,000 after purchasing an additional 16,410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $27.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.68. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $26.34 and a 52-week high of $36.64. 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 company has a market cap of $14.21 billion, a PE ratio of 27.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

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 was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 82.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. FBN Securities began coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,333 shares of company stock valued at $1,072,432. 72.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.