Warner Music Group Corp. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th.

Warner Music Group has raised its dividend by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years. Warner Music Group has a payout ratio of 47.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Warner Music Group to earn $1.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.7%.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,531,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,999,636. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $31.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The company has a market capitalization of $18.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Warner Music Group will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.49, for a total value of $40,248.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,234,802.01. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Macquarie restated a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital decreased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.81.

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.