Corebridge Financial Inc. Trims Holdings in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 159,245 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,154 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $4,937,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,198.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 507,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,886,000 after acquiring an additional 485,447 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,140,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,361,000 after acquiring an additional 437,077 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,881,000. Finally, Perpetual Ltd increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 632,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,606,000 after purchasing an additional 128,735 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WMG. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of 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. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.76.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of WMG opened at $31.56 on Friday. Warner Music Group Corp. has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $36.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.02. The company has a market capitalization of $16.42 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.