Lancaster Colony Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.95 (NASDAQ:LANC)

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.95 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th.

Lancaster Colony has increased its dividend by an average of 6.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 62 consecutive years. Lancaster Colony has a payout ratio of 52.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lancaster Colony to earn $7.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.0%.

Lancaster Colony Stock Down 0.0 %

LANC opened at $191.67 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $179.35 and a 200 day moving average of $180.90. Lancaster Colony has a 52-week low of $163.20 and a 52-week high of $209.08. The stock has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79 and a beta of 0.35.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The firm had revenue of $509.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Lancaster Colony will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Lancaster Colony

In other news, CEO David Alan Ciesinski sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total value of $3,250,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,644 shares in the company, valued at $10,447,386.36. This trade represents a 23.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 29.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LANC. StockNews.com raised Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.33.

About Lancaster Colony

Lancaster Colony Corporation engages in the manufacturing and marketing of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Retail and Foodservice. The company offers frozen garlic bread under the New York BRAND Bakery; frozen Parkerhouse style yeast and dinner rolls under the Sister Schubert's brand; salad dressings under the Marzetti, Simply Dressed, Cardini's, and Girard's brands; vegetable and fruit dips under the Marzetti brand; croutons and salad toppings under the New York BRAND Bakery, Chatham Village, and Marzetti brands; and frozen pasta under the Marzetti Frozen Pasta brand.