Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Acquired by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 7,659.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,833 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,598 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $2,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WMG. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the third quarter valued at $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on WMG shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG stock opened at $34.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.60.

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, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid 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 dividend yield of 2.09%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.47%.

Insider Activity

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total transaction of $40,248.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This trade represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 64,333 shares of company stock worth $2,124,602. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.