Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ:KALU) yesterday announced that it is rewarding shareholders in the form of a hike in the quarterly dividend rate. The increment marks its 9th consecutive year of a dividend rate increase.
We believe that such shareholder-friendly policies of the company reflect strong cash position.
Inside the Headlines
As revealed, Kaiser’s board of directors approved a hike of 12% or 7 cents per share in the quarterly dividend rate, which now moved from 60 cents to 67 cents. On an annualized basis, the dividend increased to $2.68 per share from $2.40.
Kaiser will pay out the revised dividend on Feb 14, 2020, to shareholders of record as of Jan 24.
Sound Shareholder-Friendly Policies
The company firmly believes in rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend payments. In the last three years (2017-2019), its cash dividend payout increased from $2.00 per share in 2017 to $2.40 in 2019. The last dividend payment of 60 cents was made on Nov 15, 2019.
Notably, the company had raised the quarterly dividend rate by 9% in January 2019.
We believe that impressive financial performance in the quarters ahead will likely enable it to continue rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend increments.
Zacks Rank, Earnings Estimate Trend and Price Performance
Kaiser, with a $1.7-billion market capitalization, currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its earnings is pegged at $6.81 for 2019 (results are awaited) and $7.64 for 2020. While estimates for 2019 have been unchanged from the 60-day-ago figure, that for 2020 has decreased 1.4%.
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation Price and Consensus
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation price-consensus-chart | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation Quote
In the past three months, the company’s share price has increased 9.6% compared with the industry’s growth of 15.4%.
Stocks to Consider
Three better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Industrial Products sector are DXP Enterprises, Inc (NASDAQ:DXPE) , Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) and Chart Industries, Inc (NASDAQ:GTLS) . While DXP Enterprises currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Cintas and Chart Industries carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 60 days, earnings estimates for these stocks have improved for the current year. Further, positive earnings surprise for the last four quarters, on average, was 17.67% for DXP Enterprises, 8.50% for Cintas and 4.01% for Chart Industries.
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Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (KALU): Free Stock Analysis Report
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