International Paper (NYSE:IP) Declares $0.51 Quarterly Dividend

International Paper (NYSE:IP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 12th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 0.5125 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, March 15th. This represents a $2.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%.

International Paper has increased its dividend payment by 10.1% over the last three years.

Shares of IP opened at $50.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.64 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $49.94 and a 200-day moving average of $42.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. International Paper has a 52 week low of $26.38 and a 52 week high of $53.39.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.11 billion. International Paper had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 2.37%. The business’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that International Paper will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, SVP W. Michael Jr. Amick sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.85, for a total transaction of $195,400.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sharon R. Ryan sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.30, for a total value of $1,449,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,127 shares of company stock worth $2,430,825 over the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several research analysts have recently commented on IP shares. Citigroup Inc. 3% Minimum Coupon Principal Protected Based Upon Russell upgraded International Paper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on International Paper in a research report on Tuesday, January 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on International Paper from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on International Paper from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, ValuEngine lowered International Paper from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.60.

About International Paper

International Paper Company operates as a paper and packaging company primarily in United States, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Pacific Rim, Asia, and the Americas. It operates through three segments: Industrial Packaging, Global Cellulose Fibers, and Printing Papers. The Industrial Packaging segment manufactures containerboards, including linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturating Kraft.

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