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

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the textile maker on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from UniFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33.

UniFirst has raised its dividend by an average of 8.0% per year over the last three years. UniFirst has a payout ratio of 18.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:UNF opened at $199.89 on Wednesday. UniFirst has a twelve month low of $149.58 and a twelve month high of $208.20. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 25.73 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $193.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.78.

Insider Activity at UniFirst

In other UniFirst news, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the business’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 value 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. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $1,814,215.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,320,968.30. The trade was a 35.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,294 shares of company stock worth $2,546,632 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on UNF. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $186.25.

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.