Danaos Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 (NYSE:DAC)

Danaos Co. (NYSE:DAC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 14th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the shipping company on Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th.

Danaos has raised its dividend payment by an average of 29.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Danaos has a dividend payout ratio of 12.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Danaos to earn $28.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.0%.

Danaos Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:DAC opened at $85.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.34. Danaos has a 1-year low of $65.40 and a 1-year high of $98.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $78.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a current ratio of 3.93.

Danaos (NYSE:DAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The shipping company reported $6.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.33 by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $253.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $242.00 million. Danaos had a net margin of 49.81% and a return on equity of 16.03%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.15 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaos will post 29.21 EPS for the current year.

Danaos declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, April 14th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the shipping company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DAC. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Danaos from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Danaos from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

About Danaos

Danaos Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides container and drybulk vessels services in Australia, Asia, and Europe. The company offers seaborne transportation services by operating vessels in the containership and drybulk sectors of the shipping industry. As of April 03, 2024, it had a fleet of 68 containerships aggregating 421,293 twenty-foot equivalent units in capacity.