Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL) to Repurchase $50.00 million in Stock

Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL) announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 5.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SCVL shares. Williams Trading lifted their price target on shares of Shoe Carnival from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Shoe Carnival from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 30th.

Shoe Carnival Stock Performance

NASDAQ SCVL opened at $34.36 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $36.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $933.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Shoe Carnival has a 52-week low of $24.94 and a 52-week high of $46.92.

Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $306.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.97 million. Shoe Carnival had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 6.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Shoe Carnival will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Shoe Carnival Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th will be paid a $0.135 dividend. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Shoe Carnival’s dividend payout ratio is 19.85%.

Insider Transactions at Shoe Carnival

In other news, Chairman Wayne J. Weaver bought 285,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $33.91 per share, with a total value of $9,681,305.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now owns 4,173,529 shares in the company, valued at $141,524,368.39. This trade represents a 7.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 34.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Shoe Carnival Company Profile

Shoe Carnival, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a family footwear retailer in the United States. The company offers range of dress, casual, work, and athletic shoes, as well as sandals and boots for men, women, and children; and various accessories. The company also operates stores, and sells its products through online shopping at shoecarnival.com, as well as through mobile app.