McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.45 Per Share

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share on Monday, January 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. This is a positive change from McCormick & Company, Incorporated’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has raised its dividend by an average of 7.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 37 years. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a payout ratio of 53.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect McCormick & Company, Incorporated to earn $3.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MKC traded up $0.69 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $75.31. 1,906,514 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,906,090. The stock has a market cap of $20.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.77. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $63.67 and a fifty-two week high of $85.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jacques Tapiero sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.33, for a total transaction of $391,650.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 28,217 shares in the company, valued at $2,210,237.61. This represents a 15.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,850. Company insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MKC. BNP Paribas raised McCormick & Company, Incorporated to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.57.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Company Profile

McCormick & Company, Incorporated manufactures, markets, and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to the food industry. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Flavor Solutions. The Consumer segment offers spices, herbs, and seasonings, as well as condiments and sauces, and desserts.