Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) Increases Dividend to $3.46 Per Share

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 27th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 3.46 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $13.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This is a 132.4% increase from Cal-Maine Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.49.

Cal-Maine Foods has raised its dividend payment by an average of 401.0% per year over the last three years. Cal-Maine Foods has a payout ratio of 421.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Cal-Maine Foods to earn $4.69 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $13.82 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 294.7%.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Performance

Shares of CALM stock opened at $94.81 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.11. Cal-Maine Foods has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $116.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $90.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.97.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The basic materials company reported $10.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.79 by $4.59. Cal-Maine Foods had a return on equity of 33.69% and a net margin of 20.39%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $953.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 101.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cal-Maine Foods will post 15.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CALM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Cal-Maine Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $97.00 price target on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cal-Maine Foods

In other news, insider Adolphus B. Baker sold 140,266 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.60, for a total value of $12,708,099.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,319,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,504,480.40. This trade represents a 9.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 13.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Cal-Maine Foods

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names.