Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 18th

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 0.19 per share on Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th.

Warner Music Group has raised its dividend by an average of 0.4%annually over the last three years and has increased 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 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 $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.3%.

Warner Music Group Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ WMG opened at $29.05 on Friday. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $36.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 50.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.77.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.07). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 38.79% and a net margin of 4.43%.The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,914,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $576,110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837,801 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,914,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,637,000 after acquiring an additional 363,092 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 8,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,000 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 981,912 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 178.5% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,183,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,425 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Warner Music Group

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.