The Dividend Daily

After the bell on Thursday casino and hotel operator Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) said that it saw a big decline in profit, missing Wall Street views, but revenue was up on strong Las Vegas property results. Wynn also announced a 100% increase to its quarterly dividend.

The Las Vegas, Nevada-based casino operator posted a -41.5% drop in net income in the fourth quarter, coming in at $111.4 million, or $1.10 per share, down from $190.5 million, or $1.52 per share, earned a year earlier.

Adjusting for one-time items, earnings for the quarter were $108 million, or $1.17 per share, versus $194.4 million, or $1.55 per share, a year ago. Analysts, according to Thomson Reuters, were expecting adjusted EPS to be $1.25 per share.

Revenue for the quarter was $1.3 billion, down slightly from $1.34 billion in revenue in the same quarter a year ago. The Wall Street consensus was that WYNN would post a revenue of $1.27 billion.

The worse-than-expected profit was hurt by lower revenues at Wynn’s Macau property, increased interest expense, and higher taxes. However, the company’s Las Vegas operation grew by +12%, which helped the total revenue beat analysts expectations.

Also on Thursday, Wynn declared a +100% increase to its quarterly dividend. The company will now pay $1.00 per share, up from its previous payment of 50 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on February 28 with an ex-dividend date of February 12.

Wynn shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading on Friday. The stock is up +5.17% over the past year.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Wynn Resorts (WYNN) will now have a 3.19% dividend yield based on the dividend payout increase and last night’s closing price of $125.22.

Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.