UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.35

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the textile maker on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%.

UniFirst has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.5% per year over the last three years. UniFirst has a payout ratio of 16.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect UniFirst to earn $8.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.2%.

UniFirst Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNF opened at $225.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.97 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.84. UniFirst has a 1 year low of $149.58 and a 1 year high of $243.70.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $604.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $606.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.26 earnings per share. UniFirst’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UniFirst will post 7.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $197.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust – 1 sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total transaction of $1,814,215.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,320,968.30. The trade was a 35.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.08, for a total value of $113,337.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,086,075. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,294 shares of company stock worth $2,546,632 in the last three months. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

UniFirst Company Profile

UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company operates through U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, and First Aid segments. It designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments.