Warner Music Group Corp. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.19 (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 0.19 per share on Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th.

Warner Music Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.4%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Warner Music Group has a dividend payout ratio of 55.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Warner Music Group to earn $1.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.3%.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of WMG opened at $28.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a PE ratio of 40.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.50 and its 200 day moving average is $31.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.66. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 5.44% and a return on equity of 47.78%. The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Warner Music Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Bank of America cut their target price on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.35.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.