UniFirst Co. (UNF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 on March 28th

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th.

UniFirst has increased its dividend by an average of 8.5% annually over the last three years. UniFirst has a payout ratio of 16.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect UniFirst to earn $8.68 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 16.1%.

UniFirst Stock Up 2.5 %

UNF opened at $230.58 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $193.39 and its 200-day moving average is $188.22. UniFirst has a 52-week low of $149.58 and a 52-week high of $243.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49 and a beta of 0.87.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. UniFirst had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $604.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $606.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that UniFirst will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at UniFirst

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.08, for a total transaction of $113,337.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,625 shares of the company’s stock, 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 the SEC website. Also, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust – 1 sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total value of $1,814,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,320,968.30. This trade represents a 35.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,294 shares of company stock valued at $2,546,632. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.