Lancaster Colony Co. Announces 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 dividend yield of 1.98%.

Lancaster Colony has increased its dividend by an average of 6.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 35 years. Lancaster Colony has a dividend payout ratio of 53.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lancaster Colony to earn $7.25 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 52.4%.

Lancaster Colony Price Performance

NASDAQ LANC traded up $1.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $191.70. 184,985 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 155,599. Lancaster Colony has a 12-month low of $163.20 and a 12-month high of $209.81. The firm has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.90.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $509.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $495.43 million. Lancaster Colony had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.51%. Lancaster Colony’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Lancaster Colony will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on LANC shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens raised their price objective on Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $211.33.

Lancaster Colony Company Profile

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.