Saul Centers, Inc. (BFS) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 15th

Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.59 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th.

Saul Centers has raised its dividend by an average of 18.3% annually over the last three years. Saul Centers has a payout ratio of 173.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Saul Centers to earn $2.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.8%.

Saul Centers Stock Performance

NYSE BFS opened at $39.94 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.10. The company has a market capitalization of $965.35 million, a P/E ratio of 21.71 and a beta of 1.11. Saul Centers has a 1-year low of $34.87 and a 1-year high of $42.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BFS shares. StockNews.com upgraded Saul Centers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Saul Centers from $43.50 to $45.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd.

About Saul Centers

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties.