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

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.95 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 every year for the last 62 years. Lancaster Colony has a payout ratio of 52.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:LANC traded down $5.30 on Friday, reaching $188.63. 156,620 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 146,152. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $178.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.92. The company has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15 and a beta of 0.35. Lancaster Colony has a 12 month low of $163.20 and a 12 month high of $209.81.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $509.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Lancaster Colony will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LANC. Benchmark reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens upped their target price 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. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lancaster Colony from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.