Winmark Corporation (WINA) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved the payment of a quarterly cash dividend to shareholders. The quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share will be paid on March 1, 2012 to shareholders of record on the close of business on February 8, 2012. Additionally, the Board of Directors has approved the payment of a special dividend to shareholders. The special dividend of $5.00 per share will be paid on March 1, 2012 to shareholders of record on the close of business on February 8, 2012.
Winmark Corporation is a franchisor of four value-oriented retail store concepts, which buys, sells, trades and consigns merchandise. It operates a middle-market equipment leasing business through the wholly owned subsidiary, Winmark Capital Corporation. The Company’s middle-market leasing business serves large and medium-sized businesses and focuses on technology-based assets. The Company also operates a small-ticket financing business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Wirth Business Credit, Inc. It generates financing business directly from the customers, and also through the Wirth Business Credit franchisees. It also operates a small-ticket financing business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Wirth Business Credit, Inc. The Company small-ticket financing business serves small businesses. On January 13, 2012, CEO J. Morgan has bought 3,000 shares for a total value of $160,000 at an average price of $57.08 per share.
WINA has nearly doubled in stock price in the past year from $33.00 to $64.00. It has outstanding profit margins and growth in the past year. The trick with special dividends is that the stock will usually gap up on the announcement. Therefore, wait for a market pullback before February 8th to see if you can get into this stock below $64.00. The stock price will likely drop following the ex-dividend date. You can set up a price alert in your brokerage account to see if you can get WINA on a market downday. If you play this buy right, you can get a nice special dividend!