Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS +1.43%) is returning to normal, according to a press release from the company. And "normal" includes paying a quarterly dividend. The company had temporarily suspended dividend payout on April 14, but reinstated the program on June 10.
Shareholders of record as of June 22 will receive a payout of $0.31 per share on June 30. That gives Dick's stock a forward dividend yield of over 3%.
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Back to normal
The COVID-19 pandemic caused store traffic and product demand to fall, forcing Dick's to close its retail locations. The company's e-commerce sales experienced triple-digit growth, but overall sales were still way down. Upon closing brick-and-mortar locations, it made more cash-saving moves than just pausing its dividend. It also furloughed workers, cut pay for salaried employees, and paused share buybacks.
However, this retail business is recovering quickly. Dick's expects all stores to be reopened by June 30, and sales have been strong in stores that have already reopened. That means the company no longer sees the need to be in cash-preservation mode. It's bringing back furloughed workers and restoring many salaries to previous levels.
Management will also consider resuming share repurchases. It was previously authorized to repurchase around $1 billion in common stock. Considering the stock is still down around 20% from previous highs, it wouldn't be surprising to see management make an opportunistic buyback.
