Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE:ALEX) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.23 Per Share

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE:ALEX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.225 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Alexander & Baldwin’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Alexander & Baldwin has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.0% per year over the last three years. Alexander & Baldwin has a dividend payout ratio of 130.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Alexander & Baldwin to earn $1.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.4%.

Alexander & Baldwin Stock Performance

NYSE:ALEX traded down $0.11 on Thursday, hitting $17.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 346,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 281,967. Alexander & Baldwin has a one year low of $15.53 and a one year high of $20.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.01 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE:ALEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. Alexander & Baldwin had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 19.64%. Research analysts predict that Alexander & Baldwin will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Alexander & Baldwin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alexander & Baldwin in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alexander & Baldwin has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.50.

About Alexander & Baldwin

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc engages in the real estate business. It operates through the Commercial Real Estate and Land Operations segments. The Commercial Real Estate segment includes investments and acquisitions, construction and development, and in-house leasing and property management. The Land Operations segment consists of legacy landholdings, assets, and liabilities subject to the company’s simplification and monetization effort.