Signet Jewelers Limited Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:SIG)

Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE:SIG - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 4th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, July 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share on Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 25th.

Signet Jewelers has raised its dividend by an average of 29.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Signet Jewelers has a dividend payout ratio of 14.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Signet Jewelers to earn $8.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.4%.

Signet Jewelers Stock Performance

Shares of SIG traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $74.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 421,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,526,126. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.99. Signet Jewelers has a 52-week low of $45.55 and a 52-week high of $109.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.34.

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 3rd. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.17. Signet Jewelers had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 28.69%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Signet Jewelers will post 8.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SIG shares. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on Signet Jewelers from $62.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Signet Jewelers from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Signet Jewelers from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Signet Jewelers to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Signet Jewelers currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $84.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Kevin Symancyk bought 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average price of $57.45 per share, for a total transaction of $861,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,710 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,913,289.50. This represents a 42.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helen Mccluskey bought 1,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $58.86 per share, with a total value of $100,062.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 31,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,878,575.76. This represents a 5.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Signet Jewelers

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Signet Jewelers by 33.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 849,692 shares of the company's stock worth $49,333,000 after purchasing an additional 213,365 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Signet Jewelers by 9.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 122,573 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,117,000 after buying an additional 10,964 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Signet Jewelers by 87.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 17,564 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,020,000 after buying an additional 8,183 shares during the last quarter.

About Signet Jewelers

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.