Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.60

Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the aerospace company on Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. This is a 20.0% increase from Elbit Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Elbit Systems has raised its dividend by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years. Elbit Systems has a dividend payout ratio of 17.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Elbit Systems to earn $8.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.6%.

Elbit Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ESLT traded up $2.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $410.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 283,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,216. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a PE ratio of 70.19 and a beta of 0.53. Elbit Systems has a twelve month low of $175.30 and a twelve month high of $416.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $312.94 and a 200 day moving average of $257.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Elbit Systems (NASDAQ:ESLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 18th. The aerospace company reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. Elbit Systems had a net margin of 4.00% and a return on equity of 11.34%. On average, equities analysts expect that Elbit Systems will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Elbit Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

About Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems Ltd. develops and supplies a portfolio of airborne, land, and naval systems and products for the defense, homeland security, and commercial aviation applications primarily in Israel. The company operates through Aerospace, C4I and Cyber, ISTAR and EW, Land, and Elbit Systems of America segments.