Churchill Downs Incorporated (CHDN) to Distribute Quarterly Dividend of $0.06 on April 15th

Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ:CHDN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%.

Churchill Downs has raised its dividend by an average of 7.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Churchill Downs has a dividend payout ratio of 5.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Churchill Downs to earn $7.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.41 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.2%.

Churchill Downs Stock Performance

Shares of CHDN opened at $112.97 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $119.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.55. Churchill Downs has a one year low of $105.18 and a one year high of $150.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.47, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.93.

Churchill Downs (NASDAQ:CHDN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.06). Churchill Downs had a return on equity of 43.67% and a net margin of 15.61%. The company had revenue of $624.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.21 million. As a group, analysts expect that Churchill Downs will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Churchill Downs declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CHDN. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Churchill Downs from $164.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Churchill Downs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Churchill Downs from $151.00 to $148.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Churchill Downs from $165.00 to $158.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $166.00 price target on shares of Churchill Downs in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Churchill Downs presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.38.

Churchill Downs Company Profile

Churchill Downs Incorporated operates as a racing, online wagering, and gaming entertainment company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Live and Historical Racing, TwinSpires, and Gaming. The company operates pari-mutuel gaming entertainment venues; TwinSpires, an online wagering platform for horse racing, sports, and iGaming; retail sports books; casino gaming; and Terre Haute Casino Resort.