Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 306,896 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,532 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $9,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Warner Music Group by 120.1% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 57.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 879 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 774.6% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 480.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 23.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Key Warner Music Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting Warner Music Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Warner Music Group to $43 from $40 and kept an overweight rating, signaling confidence that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Warner Music reported strong fiscal Q2 results, with EPS of $0.44 beating estimates of $0.30 and revenue of $1.73 billion topping expectations of $1.61 billion, helped by a 16.7% year-over-year sales increase. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Revenue jumped 17% to about $1.7 billion, reflecting solid performance from major releases including Bruno Mars and sombr, which suggests healthy streaming and catalog demand. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Warner Music and Paramount Pictures announced a multi-year first-look partnership to develop theatrical films based on WMG artists and songwriters, opening a potential new monetization channel for the company’s music catalog. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Warner Music declared a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share, which is a modest shareholder return but not likely the main driver of the stock move today.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim increased their target price on Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley set a $39.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG opened at $33.36 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $27.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12 month low of $23.34 and a 12 month high of $34.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.25, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.25.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 6.34%.The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 89.41%.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.