Monro Muffler Brake (NASDAQ:MNRO) Trading Up 6.3% After Dividend Announcement

Monro Muffler Brake, Inc. (NASDAQ:MNRO)’s share price traded up 6.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $18.17 and last traded at $18.10. 472,933 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 932,099 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.03.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 2nd. Monro Muffler Brake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -167.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MNRO. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Monro Muffler Brake from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Monro Muffler Brake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Monro Muffler Brake in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.67.

Monro Muffler Brake Trading Up 4.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $552.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.06.

Monro Muffler Brake (NASDAQ:MNRO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The auto parts company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.03. Monro Muffler Brake had a negative net margin of 1.60% and a positive return on equity of 2.77%. The business had revenue of $288.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. Monro Muffler Brake’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Monro Muffler Brake, Inc. will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Monro Muffler Brake

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn purchased 639,473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.19 per share, for a total transaction of $9,713,594.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 4,439,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,442,293.66. This represents a 16.83% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased 1,278,132 shares of company stock worth $20,815,969 over the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monro Muffler Brake

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MNRO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Monro Muffler Brake by 453.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Monro Muffler Brake by 132.3% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,067 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Monro Muffler Brake during the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Monro Muffler Brake by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 10,253 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WBI Investments LLC bought a new position in Monro Muffler Brake in the first quarter valued at approximately $179,000.

About Monro Muffler Brake

Monro, Inc provides automotive undercar repair, and tire sales and services in the United States. It offers replacement tires and tire related services, automotive undercar repair services, and routine maintenance services primarily to passenger cars, light trucks, and vans. The company also provides other products and services for brakes; mufflers and exhaust systems; and steering, drive train, suspension, and wheel alignment.