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

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) announced a — dividend on Monday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 24th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio of 63.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Down 1.4 %

NCMI stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Monday, reaching $5.87. 617,382 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 649,020. National CineMedia has a 52-week low of $4.12 and a 52-week high of $7.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $558.41 million, a PE ratio of -23.66 and a beta of 2.19. 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 (NASDAQ:NCMI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The business services provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.77 million. National CineMedia had a negative net margin of 9.49% and a negative return on equity of 2.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that National CineMedia will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Vg Woods sold 23,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.51, for a total value of $154,560.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,085.37. This represents a 26.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Blantyre Capital Ltd purchased 103,685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.18 per share, for a total transaction of $537,088.30. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 10,310,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,408,042.94. This trade represents a 1.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

About National CineMedia

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.