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

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) released its quarterly earnings data 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

Warner Music Group stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $32.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,202,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,916,192. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.76. The company has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. This trade represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMG shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.31.

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.