National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) Announces $0.03 — Dividend

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) declared a — dividend on Monday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th will be given a dividend of 0.03 per share by the business services provider on Monday, April 7th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 24th.

National CineMedia has a payout ratio of 63.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect National CineMedia to earn $0.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.1%.

National CineMedia Stock Performance

NASDAQ NCMI opened at $5.83 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $6.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.74. National CineMedia has a twelve month low of $4.12 and a twelve month high of $7.60. The firm has a market cap of $555.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.32 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The business services provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. National CineMedia had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 2.61%. The business had revenue of $86.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.77 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that National CineMedia will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on NCMI shares. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Friday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of National CineMedia in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.50 target price on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush raised shares of National CineMedia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $7.50 target price for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of National CineMedia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Maria Vg Woods sold 23,742 shares of National CineMedia stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.51, for a total value of $154,560.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $436,085.37. The trade was a 26.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Blantyre Capital Ltd bought 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.12 per share, for a total transaction of $1,536,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 10,250,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,483,691.52. This trade represents a 3.01 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

National CineMedia Company Profile

National CineMedia, Inc, through its subsidiary, National CineMedia, LLC, operates cinema advertising network in North America. It engages in the sale of advertising to national, regional, and local businesses in Noovie, a cinema advertising and entertainment show seen on movie screens; and sells advertising on its Lobby Entertainment Network, a series of strategically-placed screens located in movie theater lobbies, as well as other forms of advertising and promotions in theatre lobbies.