Melinda Whittington Sells 7,364 Shares of La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) Stock

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) CEO Melinda Whittington sold 7,364 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $294,560.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 415,061 shares in the company, valued at $16,602,440. The trade was a 1.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

La-Z-Boy Trading Up 3.9%

LZB traded up $1.58 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 790,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 651,032. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.95, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.26. La-Z-Boy Incorporated has a 1 year low of $29.03 and a 1 year high of $44.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.55 and its 200-day moving average is $36.42.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE:LZB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 16th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.44. La-Z-Boy had a net margin of 4.80% and a return on equity of 11.97%. The firm had revenue of $570.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $569.23 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that La-Z-Boy Incorporated will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

La-Z-Boy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.242 per share. This represents a $0.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. La-Z-Boy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On La-Z-Boy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LZB. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in La-Z-Boy by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,434,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,237,000 after acquiring an additional 95,737 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in La-Z-Boy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,814,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,422,000 after purchasing an additional 38,513 shares during the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of La-Z-Boy in the 3rd quarter worth $3,958,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of La-Z-Boy in the 4th quarter worth $18,433,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of La-Z-Boy by 124.0% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 32,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 18,031 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised La-Z-Boy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded La-Z-Boy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

La-Z-Boy Company Profile

La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE: LZB) is a leading U.S. manufacturer and marketer of residential furniture, best known for its upholstered recliners, sofas, stationary chairs and sleeper sofas. The company offers a broad range of products in both fabric and leather, complemented by occasional tables, desks, lamps and other home furnishings through its branded retail network.

Founded in 1927 by cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker in Monroe, Michigan, La-Z-Boy pioneered the modern reclining chair.