Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on June 3rd

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) announced a quarterly dividend on Saturday, May 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th.

Warner Music Group has raised its dividend by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Warner Music Group has a payout ratio of 51.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $26.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.94 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.33.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 79.01% and a net margin of 8.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMG has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $35.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup upgraded Warner Music Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, FBN Securities initiated coverage on Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMG. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 5.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 948,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,743,000 after purchasing an additional 50,035 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 10.2% in the first 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. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 120.7% in the first 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. 96.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.