Loop Capital Lowers Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $35.00

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Loop Capital from $38.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the stock.

WMG has been the subject of several other research reports. Macquarie restated a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial reduced 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 research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Warner Music Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.79.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

WMG traded up $0.20 during trading on Monday, reaching $32.05. 2,336,532 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,822,847. The company has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.62. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is presently 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,191,171.50. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth about $759,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new position in Warner Music Group during the second quarter worth $606,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $257,207,000 after acquiring an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,766,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in Warner Music Group in the second quarter worth approximately $1,956,000. 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.