Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 128.86%. Warner Music Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WMG traded down $1.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.44. 1,598,276 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,547,392. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.11. Warner Music Group has a one year low of $23.62 and a one year high of $38.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50. The firm has a market cap of $16.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.43.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Warner Music Group’s payout ratio is currently 77.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Warner Music Group in a report on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.18.

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.