Golden Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Golden Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st.

Golden Entertainment has a payout ratio of 89.3% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities research analysts expect Golden Entertainment to earn $0.84 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 119.0%.

Golden Entertainment Price Performance

NASDAQ GDEN opened at $31.09 on Friday. Golden Entertainment has a 12-month low of $27.42 and a 12-month high of $37.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $852.77 million, a P/E ratio of 25.07 and a beta of 2.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Terrence Wright sold 16,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.26, for a total value of $518,478.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,926,116.16. This trade represents a 21.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 29.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GDEN. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Golden Entertainment from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Golden Entertainment in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Golden Entertainment in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Golden Entertainment in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Golden Entertainment from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Golden Entertainment currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.86.

Golden Entertainment Company Profile

Golden Entertainment, Inc owns and operates a diversified entertainment platform in the United States. The company operates through four segments; Nevada Casino Resorts, Nevada Locals Casinos, Nevada Taverns, and Distributed Gaming. It also operates casino, casino resorts, and taverns; and slot machines in third party non-casino locations.