Warner Music Group (WMG) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) is expected to release its earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, February 6th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.34 per share and revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter. Investors that are interested in participating in the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Warner Music Group to post $1 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

WMG opened at $31.90 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95. Warner Music Group has a 12-month low of $27.06 and a 12-month high of $38.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.21 and a 200-day moving average of $30.75. The stock has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.43, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

Insider Transactions at Warner Music Group

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of Warner Music Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 72.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMG. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.31.

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.