Dole (NYSE:DOLE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

by · The Cerbat Gem

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Dole (NYSE:DOLE – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on DOLE. Stephens started coverage on shares of Dole in a research note on Friday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Dole in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.00.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Dole

Dole Price Performance

DOLE opened at $15.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.77, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Dole has a 12-month low of $12.20 and a 12-month high of $15.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.88.

Dole (NYSE:DOLE – Get Free Report) last released 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). Dole had a net margin of 0.17% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Dole will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dole Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.2%. Dole’s dividend payout ratio is 226.67%.

Dole declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, November 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Dole by 87.8% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 111,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 51,973 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Dole in the 1st quarter valued at $186,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Dole in the 1st quarter worth $9,062,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Dole by 237.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 242,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,500,000 after acquiring an additional 170,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Dole by 80.5% during the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 36,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 16,085 shares during the period.

Dole Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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