Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on March 4th

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%.

Warner Music Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years. Warner Music Group has a dividend payout ratio of 47.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Warner Music Group to earn $1.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.7%.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG stock opened at $36.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.94. The company has a market capitalization of $18.80 billion, a PE ratio of 37.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.81.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. Analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on WMG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.81.

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.