National CineMedia, Inc. (NCMI) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 24th

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) declared a — dividend on Wednesday, March 12th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 24th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio of 63.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 1.7 %

Shares of NCMI stock opened at $5.72 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $6.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a current ratio of 2.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $544.60 million, a P/E ratio of -22.88 and a beta of 2.19. National CineMedia has a fifty-two week low of $4.12 and a fifty-two week high of $7.60.

National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The business services provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $86.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.77 million. National CineMedia had a negative return on equity of 2.61% and a negative net margin of 9.49%. Research analysts expect that National CineMedia will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Maria Vg Woods sold 23,742 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.51, for a total transaction of $154,560.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $436,085.37. The trade was a 26.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Blantyre Capital Ltd acquired 103,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.18 per share, for a total transaction of $537,088.30. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 10,310,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,408,042.94. This trade represents a 1.02 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NCMI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of National CineMedia in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 target price on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush upgraded shares of National CineMedia from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $7.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded National CineMedia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.70.

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.