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Roper's Board Approves 11% Hike in Quarterly Dividend Rate

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Roper Technologies, Inc. (ROP - Free Report) , on Nov 15, announced that it is rewarding shareholders in the form of a hike in the quarterly dividend rate. This marks its 27th consecutive year of dividend rate increase.

We believe that such shareholder-friendly policies of the company reflect a strong cash position.

Inside the Headlines

As revealed, Roper’s board of directors approved an 11% or 5 cents per share hike in the quarterly dividend rate, which now moved from 46.25 cents to 51.25 cents. On an annualized basis, the dividend increased to $2.05 from $1.85 per share.

Roper will pay out the revised dividend on Jan 23, 2020, to shareholders of record as of Jan 9.

Sound Shareholder-Friendly Policies

Roper firmly believes in rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividend payments. In the last three years (2016-2018), the company’s cash dividend paid out increased from $1.20 per share in 2016 to $1.65 in 2018. In November 2018, it had raised the quarterly dividend rate by 12%.

Further, the company paid out a dividend of $143.5 million in cash to its shareholders in the first nine months of 2019.

We believe that impressive financial performance in the quarters ahead is likely to enable it to continue rewarding its shareholders handsomely through dividend increments.
    
Earnings Projections and Price Performance of Roper

Roper, with approximately $36-billion market capitalization, currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Improved end-market conditions, benefits from acquired assets and healthy balance sheet work in the company’s favor. However, integration-related risks, adverse impacts of rising costs and high debts remain headwinds.

For 2019, the company anticipates adjusted earnings per share of $12.98-$13.02, higher than $12.94-$13.06 stated earlier. Also, it predicts earnings of $3.32-$3.36 per share for the fourth quarter.

In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has been unchanged at $13.00 for 2019 and has been risen 1.2% to $13.52 for 2020. However, earnings estimates for the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased 3.7% to 3.34 per share.

Roper Technologies, Inc. Price and Consensus

 

Roper Technologies, Inc. Price and Consensus

Roper Technologies, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Roper Technologies, Inc. Quote

In the past month, the company’s share price has increased 2.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 5.6%.



 

Key Picks

Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Tennant Company (TNC - Free Report) , Dover Corporation (DOV - Free Report) and The Middleby Corporation (MIDD - Free Report) . While Tennant currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Dover and Middleby carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the past 60 days, earnings estimates for these companies have improved for the current year. Further, positive earnings surprise for the last reported quarter was 40% for Tennant, 4.58% for Dover and 5.52% for Middleby.

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