Graham Holdings (GHC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.72 on May 9th

Graham Holdings (NYSE:GHC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of 1.72 per share on Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 17th.

Graham has raised its dividend by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 9 years. Graham has a dividend payout ratio of 14.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Graham Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE:GHC opened at $716.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $727.74 and its 200 day moving average is $674.02. Graham has a 12 month low of $551.36 and a 12 month high of $771.05.

Graham (NYSE:GHC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 23rd. The company reported $10.94 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter. Graham had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 5.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Graham from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graham

In other Graham news, Director Katharine Weymouth sold 556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $712.99, for a total transaction of $396,422.44. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,989.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 32.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GHC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graham by 27,384.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 220,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 219,901 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Graham in the first quarter worth $24,767,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Graham in the fourth quarter worth $23,344,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graham by 89.1% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 59,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,590,000 after purchasing an additional 27,925 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Graham in the fourth quarter worth $10,418,000. Institutional investors own 62.54% of the company’s stock.

Graham Company Profile

Graham Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified education and media company in the United States and internationally. It provides test preparation services and materials; professional training and exam preparation for professional certifications and licensures; and non-academic operations support services to the Purdue University Global; operations support services for online courses and programs; training and test preparation services for accounting and financial services professionals; English-language training, academic preparation programs, and test preparation for English proficiency exams; and A-level examination preparation services, as well as operates colleges, business school, higher education institution, and an online learning institution.