Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT) Raises Dividend to $0.60 Per Share

Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the aerospace company on Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 payout ratio of 17.1% meaning 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 Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ ESLT opened at $410.60 on Thursday. 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 has a 52 week low of $175.30 and a 52 week high of $414.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $315.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.19 and a beta of 0.53.

Elbit Systems (NASDAQ:ESLT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 18th. The aerospace company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Elbit Systems had a net margin of 4.00% and a return on equity of 11.34%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Elbit Systems will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut 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.