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

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 16th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%.

Warner Music Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 4 years. Warner Music Group has a dividend payout ratio of 51.8% 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 $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.7%.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Warner Music Group stock opened at $27.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $26.34 and a 12-month high of $36.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.52.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMG. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. FBN Securities began coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, March 28th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. This represents a 1.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total value of $1,000,753.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 72.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 948,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,743,000 after acquiring an additional 50,035 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 120.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 77,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 7,119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% 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.