Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.75.

DLB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barrington Research dropped their target price on shares of Dolby Laboratories from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Dolby Laboratories in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Dolby Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Dolby Laboratories in a report on Monday, December 29th.

Dolby Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of DLB stock opened at $66.58 on Tuesday. Dolby Laboratories has a 52-week low of $60.14 and a 52-week high of $85.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $64.72 and its 200 day moving average is $68.30. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.85 and a beta of 0.86.

Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.07. Dolby Laboratories had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 17.97%.The firm had revenue of $346.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $341.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Dolby Laboratories will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dolby Laboratories Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Dolby Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dolby Laboratories

In other Dolby Laboratories news, SVP John D. Couling sold 7,273 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.75, for a total value of $500,018.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 108,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,429,468.75. The trade was a 6.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kevin J. Yeaman sold 36,699 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.91, for a total value of $2,455,530.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 114,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,676,249.75. The trade was a 24.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 137,120 shares of company stock valued at $9,184,809. 37.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dolby Laboratories

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DLB. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Dolby Laboratories by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,885,246 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $122,749,000 after purchasing an additional 254,250 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dolby Laboratories by 278.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 41,059 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,637,000 after purchasing an additional 30,199 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Dolby Laboratories by 527.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,210 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 1,858 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Dolby Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $258,000. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG bought a new stake in Dolby Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth about $585,000. 58.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dolby Laboratories Company Profile

Dolby Laboratories, Inc is a global leader in audio and imaging technologies, specializing in the development, licensing and deployment of solutions that enhance entertainment and communications experiences. The company’s core business revolves around creating advanced audio codecs, noise reduction systems and spatial sound technologies for a wide range of applications, including cinema, broadcast, gaming, streaming and personal devices. Dolby’s licensing model enables consumer electronics manufacturers, content creators and service providers to integrate its technologies into products such as televisions, smartphones, home theater systems and set-top boxes.

Among its flagship innovations are Dolby Atmos, an immersive audio format that delivers three-dimensional soundscapes for theaters and home systems; Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, widely adopted audio compression formats for broadcast and streaming; and Dolby Vision, a high-dynamic-range imaging technology that expands color, contrast and brightness in displays.