Investing.com -- Shares in Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) rose more than 2% in after-hours trading after the popular merchandise and home furnishing retailer reported stronger than expected fourth quarter revenues and declared its first-ever quarterly dividend on Wednesday.
During the company's fourth quarter of 2015, Bed Bath & Beyond finished with revenues of $3.42 billion, a spike of 2.4% on an annual basis. While Bed Bath & Beyond saw its quarterly net profits fall slightly to $303.5 million on the period, the Union, New Jersey-based company still increased its per share earnings by 6% to 1.91, on the heels of a favorable state audit settlement with regulators.
In December, Bed Bath & Beyond paid $500,000 to settle a fine that the company mislabeled products as containing bamboo when they were actually composed of rayon. Three other retailers, including JC Penney Company Inc Holding (NYSE:JCP) and Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN), joined Bed Bath & Beyond in settling the civil complaint. Unlike rayon, bamboo is regarded as environmentally friendly because it grows quickly and often does not require pesticides, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The companies mislabeled the products in shirts, dresses, bath rugs and pillows among other products, the FTC alleged.
Analysts expected Bed Bath & Beyond to report per share earnings of 1.80 on quarterly revenue of $3.39 billion.
"We are pleased to have completed another successful year," said Steven H. Temares, Chief Executive Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond. "Our fiscal 2015 financial performance reflects the benefit of the significant investments in our business, steady progress on our strategic initiatives, and the return of more than $1.1 billion to our shareholders through share repurchase."
In addition, the company's Board of Directors authorized a quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents to be paid to shareholders of record on June 27.
Bed Bath & Beyond shares rose 1.34 or 2.75% to 48.81 in after-hours trading.