McCormick & Company, Incorporated Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:MKC)

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, June 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share on Monday, July 21st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a payout ratio of 54.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect McCormick & Company, Incorporated to earn $3.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.4%.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Stock Performance

Shares of MKC opened at $74.64 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.68. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a one year low of $66.88 and a one year high of $86.24.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 25th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MKC shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Argus lowered shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lawrence Erik Kurzius sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.81, for a total value of $4,090,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 247,437 shares in the company, valued at $20,242,820.97. The trade was a 16.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Katherine Jenkins sold 7,642 shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.38, for a total value of $583,695.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,392 shares of company stock worth $4,898,101 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 23.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McCormick & Company, Incorporated

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,903 shares of the company’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 40.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 21,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after purchasing an additional 6,189 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 2.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,854,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. 79.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Company Profile

McCormick & Co, Inc engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to retail outlets, food manufacturers, and foodservice businesses. It operates through the Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. The Consumer segment sells spices, seasonings, condiments, and sauces.