Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Dun & Bradstreet from $12.80 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $9.15 price objective (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.86.

Dun & Bradstreet Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:DNB opened at $8.74 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.11. Dun & Bradstreet has a 1 year low of $7.78 and a 1 year high of $12.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -145.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.14.

Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $631.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $658.04 million. Dun & Bradstreet had a positive return on equity of 11.29% and a negative net margin of 1.20%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Dun & Bradstreet will post 0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dun & Bradstreet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Dun & Bradstreet’s dividend payout ratio is currently -333.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dun & Bradstreet

In other news, Chairman William P. Foley II sold 2,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.99, for a total value of $22,475,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 8,109,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,905,699.56. This represents a 23.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 10.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dun & Bradstreet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi grew its holdings in Dun & Bradstreet by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 5,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Dun & Bradstreet during the 4th quarter valued at about $96,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Dun & Bradstreet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $117,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Dun & Bradstreet during the third quarter worth approximately $120,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Dun & Bradstreet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $127,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.68% of the company’s stock.

About Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc engages in providing business decisioning data and analytics solutions. The firm is involved in providing information with its solutions to support its clients with critical business operations. It offers end-to-end solutions to clients in the small business, finance, sales & marketing, third party risk & compliance, and public sectors.