Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) Declares $0.16 Quarterly Dividend

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the construction company on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Advanced Drainage Systems has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.9% per year over the last three years. Advanced Drainage Systems has a dividend payout ratio of 8.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Advanced Drainage Systems to earn $6.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

Advanced Drainage Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMS opened at $120.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 3.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.35. Advanced Drainage Systems has a fifty-two week low of $110.75 and a fifty-two week high of $184.27. The company has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.52.

Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The construction company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.25). Advanced Drainage Systems had a return on equity of 35.79% and a net margin of 15.90%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Advanced Drainage Systems will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMS. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Advanced Drainage Systems from $174.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Advanced Drainage Systems from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Advanced Drainage Systems from $192.00 to $184.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.25.

About Advanced Drainage Systems

Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets thermoplastic corrugated pipes and related water management products in North America and internationally. The company operates through Pipe, International, Infiltrator, and Allied Products & Other segments. It offers single, double, and triple wall corrugated polypropylene and polyethylene pipes; plastic leachfield chambers and systems; EZflow synthetic aggregate bundles; wastewater purification through mechanical aeration wastewater for residential and commercial systems; septic tanks and accessories; combined treatment and dispersal systems, including advanced enviro-septic and advanced treatment leachfield systems; and allied products, including storm retention/detention and septic chambers, polyvinyl chloride drainage structures, fittings, and water quality filters and separators.