Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) Announces Dividend Increase – $1.80 Per Share

Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of 1.80 per share on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Graham’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.72.

Graham has raised its dividend by an average of 4.4% annually over the last three years. Graham has a payout ratio of 10.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Graham Trading Down 0.9 %

Graham stock traded down $8.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $897.72. 14,698 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,080. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $909.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $822.07. Graham has a fifty-two week low of $683.00 and a fifty-two week high of $974.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.14.

Insider Activity

In other Graham news, CAO Marcel A. Snyman sold 159 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $881.30, for a total value of $140,126.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $389,534.60. This represents a 26.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 32.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Graham from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th.

Graham Company Profile

Graham Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified education and media company in the United States and internationally. It provides test preparation services and materials; professional training and exam preparation for professional certifications and licensures; and non-academic operations support services to the Purdue University Global; operations support services for online courses and programs; training and test preparation services for accounting and financial services professionals; English-language training, academic preparation programs, and test preparation for English proficiency exams; and A-level examination preparation services, as well as operates colleges, business school, higher education institution, and an online learning institution.