Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Expected to Post Quarterly Sales of $1.40 Billion

Equities analysts expect Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG – Get Rating) to post $1.40 billion in sales for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Four analysts have made estimates for Warner Music Group’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $1.38 billion and the highest estimate coming in at $1.44 billion. Warner Music Group posted sales of $1.25 billion during the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year over year growth rate of 12%. The firm is scheduled to announce its next earnings report on Monday, January 1st.

On average, analysts expect that Warner Music Group will report full year sales of $5.99 billion for the current year, with estimates ranging from $5.86 billion to $6.08 billion. For the next fiscal year, analysts forecast that the firm will report sales of $6.62 billion, with estimates ranging from $6.40 billion to $6.77 billion. Zacks Investment Research’s sales calculations are a mean average based on a survey of analysts that follow Warner Music Group.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 8th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.14. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 481.86%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WMG. Credit Suisse Group lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 4th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Warner Music Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Warner Music Group from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.42.

In other Warner Music Group news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.80, for a total transaction of $358,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.64, for a total transaction of $712,800.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,165,000. 76.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 100.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 7,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. 19.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of WMG stock opened at $37.31 on Thursday. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $29.34 and a 12 month high of $50.23. The stock has a market cap of $19.21 billion, a PE ratio of 49.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.17.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 18th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 17th. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.00%.

About Warner Music Group (Get Rating)

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. The company 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.

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