Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) To Go Ex-Dividend on August 20th

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share on Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date 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%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Warner Music Group has a dividend payout ratio of 55.1% indicating that 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 Performance

NASDAQ WMG opened at $26.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.72. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $23.34 and a 12-month high of $35.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The company has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.30.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 97.19%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.03) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Warner Music Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Warner Music Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.21.

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.