Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.20 Per Share

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share on Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This is a 5.3% increase from Warner Music Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19.

Warner Music Group has raised its dividend by an average of 0.4%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 55.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Warner Music Group to earn $1.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.2%.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of WMG opened at $26.00 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.73. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $23.34 and a 52 week high of $35.42.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.17. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 62.01%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.03) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,645,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200,362 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 5,880,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,363,000 after buying an additional 47,760 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Warner Music Group by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,885,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,168,000 after acquiring an additional 701,829 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,208,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,391,000 after buying an additional 981,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Warner Music Group by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,976,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,277,000 after purchasing an additional 802,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.88% of the company’s stock.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

Warner Music Group is a major global music company that operates across recorded music and music publishing. Its recorded-music business comprises a portfolio of well-known labels—including Atlantic, Warner Records and Parlophone—as well as distribution and artist-services operations that support both established and emerging artists. The company’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, manages songwriting catalogs and administers rights for compositions across multiple media, providing licensing for film, television, advertising and other commercial uses.

WMG’s activities span the full music value chain: signing and developing artists, producing and marketing recordings, distributing music through physical channels and streaming platforms, and monetizing rights through licensing, synchronization and neighboring-rights collection.