Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC Has $8.88 Million Stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG)

Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lessened its stake in Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 286,550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,500 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC’s holdings in Warner Music Group were worth $8,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position 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 valued at $257,207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514,715 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,284,000 after buying an additional 49,166 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,247,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,354,000 after buying an additional 10,222 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on WMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG opened at $32.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Warner Music Group Corp. has a one year low of $27.06 and a one year high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 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.