Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) Raises Dividend to $1.56 Per Share

Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 1.56 per share by the business services provider on Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost from Cintas’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35.

Cintas has raised its dividend payment by an average of 92.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 42 consecutive years. Cintas has a payout ratio of 33.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Cintas to earn $18.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.2%.

Cintas Trading Down 0.1 %

CTAS stock opened at $759.12 on Wednesday. Cintas has a one year low of $474.74 and a one year high of $773.95. The stock has a market cap of $77.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $724.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $678.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Shares of Cintas are scheduled to split on the morning of Thursday, September 12th. The 4-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 2nd. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, September 11th.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The business services provider reported $3.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.80 by $0.19. Cintas had a net margin of 16.38% and a return on equity of 37.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Cintas will post 16.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gerald S. Adolph sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $765.72, for a total value of $842,292.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,083,425.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 15.10% of the company’s stock.

Cintas announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 23rd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CTAS. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cintas from $790.00 to $874.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup lowered shares of Cintas from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $530.00 to $570.00 in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $775.00 price objective (up previously from $750.00) on shares of Cintas in a report on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Cintas from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $725.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Cintas from $667.00 to $798.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cintas currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $742.36.

Cintas Company Profile

Cintas Corporation engages in the provision of corporate identity uniforms and related business services primarily in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Uniform Rental and Facility Services, First Aid and Safety Services, and All Other segments. The company rents and services uniforms and other garments, including flame resistant clothing, mats, mops and shop towels, and other ancillary items; and provides restroom cleaning services and supplies, as well as sells uniforms.