Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.20 Per Share

Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Silgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19.

Silgan has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Silgan has a payout ratio of 17.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Silgan to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.0%.

Silgan Stock Performance

SLGN traded down $0.48 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.64. The stock had a trading volume of 487,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 665,648. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.71. Silgan has a twelve month low of $41.14 and a twelve month high of $58.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Silgan (NYSE:SLGN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. Silgan had a net margin of 4.72% and a return on equity of 19.70%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Silgan will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert B. Lewis sold 20,000 shares of Silgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $1,064,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 152,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,096,518.26. This trade represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLGN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on Silgan from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Silgan from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Silgan from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James increased their price target on Silgan from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Silgan from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Silgan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.22.

About Silgan

Silgan Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells rigid packaging solutions for consumer goods products in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Dispensing and Specialty Closures, Metal Containers, and Custom Containers. The Dispensing and Specialty Closures segment offers a range of metal and plastic closures, and dispensing systems for food, beverage, health care, garden, home, personal care, beauty products, and hard surface cleaning products, as well as capping/sealing equipment and detection systems.