Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Announces Earnings Results

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11, Zacks reports. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of WMG stock traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $32.65. 2,377,931 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,919,664. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is 86.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on WMG. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.31.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 72.21% 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.