Tyson Foods, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:TSN)

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share on Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%.

Tyson Foods has raised its dividend by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Tyson Foods has a payout ratio of 49.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Tyson Foods to earn $4.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.5%.

Tyson Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TSN opened at $57.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Tyson Foods has a twelve month low of $51.16 and a twelve month high of $66.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $58.41 and its 200 day moving average is $60.26. The company has a market cap of $20.43 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.80.

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.35. Tyson Foods had a net margin of 1.50% and a return on equity of 6.03%. The firm had revenue of $13.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Tyson Foods will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Adam S. Deckinger sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.80, for a total transaction of $680,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 19,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,048. This represents a 35.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Wes Morris sold 22,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.71, for a total transaction of $1,428,721.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $999,409.27. This represents a 58.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 414,814 shares of company stock worth $26,450,955 over the last 90 days. 2.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Tyson Foods from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Tyson Foods from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Tyson Foods in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Tyson Foods from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Tyson Foods from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.10.

About Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Prepared Foods. The company processes live fed cattle and hogs; fabricates dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, as well as case ready beef and pork, and fully cooked meats; raises and processes chickens into fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products, including breaded chicken strips, nuggets, patties, and other ready-to-fix or fully cooked chicken parts; and supplies poultry breeding stock.