Chili’s Rules! Brinker Hikes Dividend 25%
Jon OggBrinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) is trying to show that it has earnings power and anticipates earnings growth ahead. The company is hiking its dividend payout by 25%. Business at Chili’s and Maggiano’s must be holding up well. Brinker currently…
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Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) is trying to show that it has earnings power and anticipates earnings growth ahead. The company is hiking its dividend payout by 25%. Business at Chili’s and Maggiano’s must be holding up well. Brinker currently owns, operates or franchises 1,536 Chili’s and 45 Maggiano’s Little Italy chains, and it holds a minority investment in Romano’s Macaroni Grill.
The restaurant chain’s board of directors is hiking the quarterly dividend payout to $0.20 from $0.16 per share and the payout is payable on September 27, 2012 to shareholders of record as of September 10, 2012. Brinker’s board went a step further and authorized an additional $500 million for its share buyback plan today. This gives additional infusion for the buyback plan gives the company the ability to repurchase up to $626 million as of now. That is not a huge nominal buyback compared to elsewhere with larger companies, but it represents a huge portion of the company here as Brinker’s market cap is only $2.5 billion.
After calculating the dividend hike, Brinker will be paying shareholders as of today’s close a new dividend yield of 2.36% versus about 1.9% now. Shares closed down 0.7% at $33.85 and the 52-week range is $19.50 to $35.18.
JON C. OGG
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.
