Stock Repurchase Program Approved by Dole (NYSE:DOLE) Board

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, November 10th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens assumed coverage on Dole in a research note on Friday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Dole from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dole in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dole has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.00.

Dole Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:DOLE opened at $13.79 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.27 and its 200 day moving average is $13.88. Dole has a 12-month low of $12.20 and a 12-month high of $16.86. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.14, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Dole had a net margin of 0.28% and a return on equity of 8.17%. Dole’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Dole will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dole Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 9th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Dole’s payout ratio is 226.67%.

Dole Company Profile

Dole Food Company, Inc (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods.