National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) to Issue — Dividend of $0.03

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) announced a — dividend on Monday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th will be paid 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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

Shares of NASDAQ NCMI opened at $5.83 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $6.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 2.46. National CineMedia has a one year low of $4.12 and a one year high of $7.60. The company has a market capitalization of $555.07 million, a P/E ratio of -23.32 and a beta of 2.19.

National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The business services provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. National CineMedia had a negative return on equity of 2.61% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. The company had revenue of $86.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.77 million. Analysts anticipate that National CineMedia will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at National CineMedia

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

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.