Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Shares Gap Down to $35.65

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $35.65, but opened at $33.32. Warner Music Group shares last traded at $33.20, with a volume of 668,061 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMG shares. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.18.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 6.1 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.60 and a 200-day moving average of $34.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.43.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.13). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 854,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,833,000 after purchasing an additional 8,291 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Warner Music Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,193,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,862,000 after purchasing an additional 36,322 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its stake in Warner Music Group by 18.5% during the third quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 119,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,740,000 after buying an additional 18,600 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 170,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,345,000 after buying an additional 39,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Warner Music Group by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Company 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.