Hahn Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Hahn Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 254,225 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,047 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group makes up about 3.3% of Hahn Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Hahn Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $6,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 18.9% in the second quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 2,512 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth $932,000. Revisor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth $230,000. Arlington Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth $1,673,000. Finally, Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 5.3% during the second quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 660,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,993,000 after purchasing an additional 33,422 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMG has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.82.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $34.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.82 billion, a PE ratio of 59.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 39.95% and a net margin of 4.59%.Warner Music Group’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This is a boost from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

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.