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

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%.

UniFirst has raised its dividend by an average of 8.5% annually over the last three years. UniFirst has a dividend payout ratio of 16.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

UNF traded down $1.46 on Tuesday, hitting $225.07. 129,232 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 331,439. UniFirst has a 12 month low of $149.58 and a 12 month high of $243.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at UniFirst

In other UniFirst news, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,086,075. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Steven S. Sintros sold 3,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.04, for a total transaction of $619,079.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 22,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,357,105.84. This trade represents a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,294 shares of company stock worth $2,546,632 over the last 90 days. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company 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.