UniFirst Co. (UNF) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 6th

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 8th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the textile maker on Friday, June 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th.

UniFirst has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.5% annually over the last three years. UniFirst has a payout ratio of 16.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 6.7 %

UNF opened at $172.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.08 and a beta of 0.88. UniFirst has a 52 week low of $149.58 and a 52 week high of $243.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.34.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 2nd. The textile maker reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $602.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $602.81 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UniFirst will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the textile maker to buy up to 3.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on UNF. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on UniFirst from $218.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on UniFirst from $194.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $152.00 price target (down from $180.00) on shares of UniFirst in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UniFirst currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $180.00.

Insider Transactions at UniFirst

In other UniFirst news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total transaction of $274,024.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,361,682.25. This represents a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

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.