Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Acquired by D1 Capital Partners L.P.

D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 91.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,514,715 shares during the quarter. Warner Music Group accounts for approximately 3.2% of D1 Capital Partners L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. D1 Capital Partners L.P.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $164,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $160,156,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 47.4% during the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,418,000 after buying an additional 2,594,994 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Warner Music Group by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,061,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,122,000 after buying an additional 831,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Linonia Partnership LP bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $21,132,000. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of WMG stock opened at $32.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a PE ratio of 38.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.37. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.93 and its 200 day moving average is $30.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 86.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,113,588. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on WMG shares. Tigress Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.79.

Warner Music Group Profile

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.