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

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) declared a — dividend on Monday, March 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 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 %

National CineMedia stock opened at $5.75 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. National CineMedia has a 12 month low of $4.12 and a 12 month high of $7.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.74. The stock has a market cap of $547.46 million, a P/E ratio of -23.00 and a beta of 2.19.

National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $86.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NCMI. William Blair reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 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. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of National CineMedia in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded National CineMedia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $7.50 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.70.

Insider Transactions at National CineMedia

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

National CineMedia Company Profile

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.