Dole (NYSE:DOLE) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Dole (NYSE:DOLE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on DOLE. Stephens started coverage on shares of Dole in a research note on Friday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dole in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.00.

Dole Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DOLE opened at $13.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 55.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Dole has a fifty-two week low of $12.20 and a fifty-two week high of $15.72.

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. Dole had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 0.28%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Dole will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dole announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, November 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Dole Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Dole’s dividend payout ratio is presently 226.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in Dole by 120.8% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dole during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of Dole during the third quarter worth about $50,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Dole by 269.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 2,709 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in Dole in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $64,000.

Dole Company Profile

Dole Food Company, Inc (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods.