Lancaster Colony Co. (LANC) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 7th

Lancaster Colony Co. (NASDAQ:LANC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.95 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. 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 raised its dividend every year for the last 35 years. Lancaster Colony has a dividend payout ratio of 53.0% meaning 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 Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:LANC opened at $193.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.08 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $177.84 and its 200-day moving average is $180.97. Lancaster Colony has a 1-year low of $163.20 and a 1-year high of $209.81.

Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $509.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.43 million. Lancaster Colony had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 8.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lancaster Colony will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LANC. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Lancaster Colony from $232.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens upped their target price on Lancaster Colony from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Lancaster Colony from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Lancaster Colony in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Lancaster Colony from $192.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.