Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) Announces $0.59 Quarterly Dividend

Saul Centers, Inc. (NYSE:BFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 0.59 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th.

Saul Centers has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.8% annually over the last three years. Saul Centers has a payout ratio of 181.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Saul Centers to earn $2.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.8%.

Saul Centers Price Performance

NYSE:BFS opened at $32.80 on Friday. Saul Centers has a 52 week low of $31.59 and a 52 week high of $42.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.11. The company has a market capitalization of $793.67 million, a P/E ratio of 17.82 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61.

Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $67.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.94 million. Saul Centers had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 17.16%. Equities analysts expect that Saul Centers will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Saul Centers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

Saul Centers Company Profile

Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties.