Stocks which could see active trade in Thursday’s session:
are United Technologies Corp., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Korn/Ferry International.
Pier 1 Imports Inc. PIR -2.69% , Kroger Co. KR -0.98% , Smithfield Foods Inc. SFD +1.77% , School Specialty Inc. SCHS +2.99% , Lakeland Industries Inc. LAKE +1.79% , Winnebago Industries Inc. WGO 0.00% , Medical Action Industries Inc. MDCI -6.10% , National Technical Systems Inc. NTSC +3.13% and Spartech Corp. SEH -4.24% are the main companies on deck to report quarterly financial results on Thursday.
The board of United Technologies UTX -1.09% approved an 11.5% increase in the blue-chip conglomerate’s quarterly dividend on common stock, to 53.5 cents a share. It’s payable Sept. 10 to stockholders of record as of Aug. 17, the Hartford, Conn.-based company said.
Also late Wednesday, the board of C.R. Bard Inc. BCR +0.97% took steps on two fronts to return capital to stockholders. The directors authorized the repurchase of up to $500 million of the common stock, on top of about $88 million remaining under the Murray Hill, N.J.-based company’s June 2010 authorization. Buybacks will be made from time to time in the open market or via privately negotiated transactions. Separately, the board voted a 5% increase in C.R. Bard’s quarterly dividend to 20 cents per common share. The new dividend’s payable Aug. 3 to holders of record as of July 23.
The board of Culp Inc. CFI -5.80% approved the initiation of a dividend, the High Point, N.C.-based company said. Culp anticipates declaring dividends on a quarterly basis, with expected payment dates in October, January, April and July. The first dividend, in the amount of 3 cents a share, will be paid or about July 16 to holders of record as of July 2. In addition, Culp’s board authorized the company to buy back up to $5 million of common stock, replacing a previous $7 million authorization that the company said had $1.6 million remaining as of the end of April. Repurchases made during the fiscal year ended April 29 equated to 4.7% of Culp shares outstanding when the program began in June 2011. The moves came as Culp, a marketer of mattress fabrics, reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2012 and as management issued a profit and sales forecast for the first quarter of fiscal 2013.
More than $29 million will be paid to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of shareholders of Barnes & Noble BKS -2.11% , according to a pair of law firms that specialize in securities class actions. Grant & Eisenhofer PA, Wilmington, Del., and Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, Haverford, Pa., reached the settlement with Leonard Riggio, founder of New York-based Barnes & Noble and its controlling shareholder. The settlement grew out of a 2009 suit filed over accusations that the company’s acquisition of textbook retailer Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Inc., which Riggio and his wife owned, was overpriced. Terms call for a reduction of nearly $22.8 million in the purchase price of a $150 million promissory note, with the balance representing a reduction in interest payments due on the note.
Along with reporting results for the fourth quarter ended April 30, Korn/Ferry KFY -4.29% issued a sober short-term forecast, saying “uncertainty and challenges facing the global economy and financial markets” make it “particularly difficult” to project business results for the Los Angeles-based recruiting firm. For the first quarter of fiscal 2013, management pegged earnings in a range of 14 cents to 22 cents a share, with likely fee revenue of $172 million to $188 million. Fee revenue, which accounts for the bulk of Korn/Ferry’s top line, amounted to $198.1 million in the April quarter, up less than 1% from the prior year, as the company posted a net profit of 25 cents a share.
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. AEGR -1.55% announced plans for a secondary public offering of common stock under a shelf registration declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Proceeds from the sale of an as-yet unspecified number of shares would go to Cambridge, Mass.-based Aegerion
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