Medifast, Inc. (NYSE:MED – Get Rating) declared a dividend on Saturday, June 18th, investing.com reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of 1.64 per share by the specialty retailer on Monday, August 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 27th.
Medifast has raised its dividend payment by an average of 37.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Medifast has a dividend payout ratio of 34.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Medifast to earn $19.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.9%.
Shares of MED stock opened at $177.17 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $178.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.29. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 1.31. Medifast has a 12 month low of $154.67 and a 12 month high of $295.38.
Medifast (NYSE:MED – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 2nd. The specialty retailer reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.03. Medifast had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 81.42%. The firm had revenue of $417.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $415.20 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Medifast will post 15.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
If you’re new to trading, then you’ve probably heard the wrong thing about options—that they’re risky, unpredictable, or difficult.
And it couldn’t be more wrong! With the Hughes Optioneering Strategy, you’ll soon learn that the safest option for new accounts is options themselves!
In other Medifast news, Director Jeffrey J. Brown purchased 315 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $183.25 per share, for a total transaction of $57,723.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,512,521.75. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Daniel R. Chard purchased 431 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $183.25 per share, for a total transaction of $78,980.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 108,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,900,583.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Medifast by 114.6% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 648 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Medifast by 58.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,271 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Medifast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Medifast by 4.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,488 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Medifast by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,278 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. 84.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
A number of brokerages have recently commented on MED. StockNews.com raised shares of Medifast from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 9th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Medifast from $341.00 to $352.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 2nd.
About Medifast (Get Rating)
Medifast, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes weight loss, weight management, healthy living products, and other consumable health and nutritional products in the United States and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers bars, bites, pretzels, puffs, cereal crunch, drinks, hearty choices, oatmeal, pancakes, pudding, soft serves, shakes, smoothies, soft bakes, and soups under the OPTAVIA, Optimal Health by Take Shape for Life, and Flavors of Home brands.
Featured Articles
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat’s editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]
Should you invest $1,000 in Medifast right now?
Before you consider Medifast, you’ll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street’s top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on… and Medifast wasn’t on the list.
While Medifast currently has a “Buy” rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
Source: marketbeat.com
