Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.11 EPS

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11, Zacks reports. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $31.75 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.20 and a 200-day moving average of $30.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $16.45 billion, a PE ratio of 38.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on WMG shares. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

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.