UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) Raises Dividend to $0.35 Per Share

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from UniFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33.

UniFirst has increased its dividend by an average of 8.0% per year over the last three years. UniFirst has a payout ratio of 17.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect UniFirst to earn $8.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.9%.

UniFirst Price Performance

Shares of UNF opened at $184.31 on Thursday. UniFirst has a one year low of $149.58 and a one year high of $200.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72 and a beta of 0.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on UNF. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of UniFirst from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.