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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Warner Music Group Stock Down 8.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.87 billion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50. The company's 50-day moving average is $33.63 and its 200 day moving average is $34.12.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group Corp. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is 77.27%.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds 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% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 854,556 shares of the company's stock worth $26,833,000 after acquiring 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 worth $68,862,000 after purchasing an additional 36,322 shares in the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc increased its position in Warner Music Group by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 119,100 shares of the company's stock worth $3,740,000 after purchasing an additional 18,600 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 170,219 shares of the company's stock worth $5,345,000 after purchasing 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 valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 1,109 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.