Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 203,972 Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. $WMG

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 82.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,588 shares of the company’s stock after selling 203,972 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $1,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 774.6% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 480.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 355.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMG. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.38.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $27.70 on Thursday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a twelve month low of $23.34 and a twelve month high of $35.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.30.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 62.01% and a net margin of 6.34%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. 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.