Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) Increases Dividend to $1.49 Per Share

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a dividend of 1.489 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This is a boost from Cal-Maine Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02.

Cal-Maine Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 340.3% annually over the last three years. Cal-Maine Foods has a payout ratio of 124.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Cal-Maine Foods to earn $3.49 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $4.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 116.9%.

Cal-Maine Foods Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CALM opened at $104.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of -0.11. Cal-Maine Foods has a 12 month low of $53.38 and a 12 month high of $114.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.07.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.42. Cal-Maine Foods had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 16.09%. The company had revenue of $954.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $751.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 82.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cal-Maine Foods will post 8.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CALM. StockNews.com cut shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stephens started coverage on Cal-Maine Foods in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company.

Cal-Maine Foods Company Profile

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names.