Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) Raises Dividend to $0.29 Per Share

Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 20th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This is an increase from Signet Jewelers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23.

Signet Jewelers has raised its dividend payment by an average of 34.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Signet Jewelers has a dividend payout ratio of 9.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Signet Jewelers to earn $12.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

Signet Jewelers Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE SIG opened at $101.08 on Wednesday. Signet Jewelers has a 12 month low of $57.10 and a 12 month high of $109.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.13.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $6.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.33 by $0.40. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 11.30% and a return on equity of 32.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Signet Jewelers will post 10.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on SIG. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Signet Jewelers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Signet Jewelers from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of Signet Jewelers from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.20.

Insider Transactions at Signet Jewelers

In other news, Director H. Todd Stitzer sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.09, for a total transaction of $1,000,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,171,551.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider William Brace sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $297,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 75,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,490,736. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director H. Todd Stitzer sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.09, for a total transaction of $1,000,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,171,551.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,254 shares of company stock valued at $5,461,294 over the last 90 days. 4.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Signet Jewelers Company Profile

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a diamond jewelry retailer. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Other. The North America segment operates jewelry stores in jewelry stores in malls, mall-based kiosks, and off-mall locations in the United States and Canada primarily under the Kay Jewelers, Kay Jewelers Outlet, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, Jared Vault, Zales Outlet, Zales Jewelers, Diamonds Direct, James Allen, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, and Peoples Jewellers names, as well as operates online through its digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile.