Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Trading Down 7.9% – What’s Next?

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) traded down 7.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $30.72 and last traded at $31.00. 148,268 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 1,782,578 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Tigress Financial cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Macquarie cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 8.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.71.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 69.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total value of $1,809,327.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,191,171.50. The trade was a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 41.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,201,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $435,903,000 after buying an additional 3,881,684 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,679,000 after acquiring an additional 192,215 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the second quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,418,000 after acquiring an additional 2,594,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% during the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

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.