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

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) is expected to be issuing its quarterly 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. Persons that wish to register for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). Warner Music Group had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 69.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:WMG opened at $31.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $31.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.68. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 242,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,503,465.60. This represents a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price target 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. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.31.

About Warner Music Group

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.