Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Trading Down 7.9% – Should You Sell?

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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 report on Tuesday, August 13th. Tigress Financial reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Macquarie reduced their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.17.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 8.7 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.71. The company has a market capitalization of $15.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Max Lousada sold 428,834 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $12,007,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,289,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,113,588. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $257,207,000 after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the 2nd quarter worth $160,156,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new position in Warner Music Group during the second quarter worth about $84,281,000. Finally, Darlington Partners Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 47.4% in the 2nd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 8,072,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,418,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594,994 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.