Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 128.86%. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded down $1.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,411,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,545,328. Warner Music Group has a twelve month low of $23.62 and a twelve month high of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.23 billion, a PE ratio of 35.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.58 and its 200 day moving average is $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.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 77.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.18.

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.