Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Acquired by Cooke & Bieler LP

Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 831,114 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group comprises about 1.5% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 0.98% of Warner Music Group worth $155,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 154,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,110,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 17,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital City Trust Co. FL lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 9,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 260,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,903,639. Warner Music Group Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The company has a market capitalization of $14.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic restated a “sell” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, July 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.19.

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.