Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Has $254 Million Stock Position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. cut its position in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,193,577 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,890 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group comprises approximately 1.2% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 1.58% of Warner Music Group worth $254,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMG. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 379.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.0% in the 4th 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 period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter worth $218,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,802.01. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.56 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.02.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. As a group, research analysts expect that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 73.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMG. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.76.

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.