Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) Announces $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share on Saturday, March 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Monarch Casino & Resort has a dividend payout ratio of 23.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Monarch Casino & Resort to earn $5.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.0%.

Monarch Casino & Resort Price Performance

NASDAQ MCRI traded up $0.31 on Friday, hitting $94.47. The company had a trading volume of 145,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 76,687. The company's fifty day moving average price is $83.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.74. Monarch Casino & Resort has a 12-month low of $64.50 and a 12-month high of $96.11.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.23. Monarch Casino & Resort had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 17.06%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 4.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monarch Casino & Resort

In other Monarch Casino & Resort news, CEO John Farahi sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.70, for a total value of $77,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,059,477.20. This represents a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 24.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MCRI. StockNews.com downgraded Monarch Casino & Resort from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $73.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Monarch Casino & Resort from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $87.20.

About Monarch Casino & Resort

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc engages in the ownership and operation of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel and casino facility in Reno, Nevada, and the Monarch Black Hawk Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.