Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Announces $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,Zacks Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th.

Warner Music Group has increased its dividend by an average of 40.1% annually over the last three years. Warner Music Group has a payout ratio of 50.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Warner Music Group to earn $1.41 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 51.1%.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $33.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,179,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,814,698. The company has a market cap of $17.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.70. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 101.32% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lowered their price objective on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.17.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other 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 transaction of $1,809,327.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,909,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,191,171.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.