Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) Increases Dividend to $0.29 Per Share

Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share on Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Perrigo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Perrigo has raised its dividend by an average of 4.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Perrigo has a payout ratio of 34.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Perrigo to earn $3.06 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.9%.

Perrigo Stock Performance

NYSE:PRGO opened at $29.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.79 and a beta of 0.48. Perrigo has a twelve month low of $23.14 and a twelve month high of $33.46.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 7.38% and a negative net margin of 3.64%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Perrigo will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Perrigo

In other news, Director Jeffrey B. Kindler sold 17,598 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.27, for a total value of $497,495.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,409 shares in the company, valued at $152,912.43. The trade was a 76.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PRGO. Argus lowered shares of Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut Perrigo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Perrigo from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

About Perrigo

Perrigo Company plc provides over-the-counter health and wellness solutions to enhance individual well-being in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Consumer Self-Care Americas and Consumer Self-Care International segments. The company develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes self-care consumer products, such as upper respiratory products, including cough suppressants, expectorants, and sinus and allergy relief; nutrition products consisting of infant formulas and nutritional beverages; digestive health products, including antacids, anti-diarrheal, and anti-heartburn; pain and sleep-aids products comprising pain relievers and fever reducers; and oral care products, which include toothbrushes, toothbrush replacement heads, floss, flossers, whitening products, and toothbrush covers.