Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.21

Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th.

Univest Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 11.9% annually over the last three years. Univest Financial has a payout ratio of 42.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Univest Financial to earn $2.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.6%.

Univest Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UVSP traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $21.23. The stock had a trading volume of 101,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 105,457. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Univest Financial has a 12-month low of $16.10 and a 12-month high of $22.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $626.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.63.

Univest Financial (NASDAQ:UVSP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.10. Univest Financial had a net margin of 14.98% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The company had revenue of $71.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.32 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Univest Financial will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on UVSP. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Univest Financial from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $22.00) on shares of Univest Financial in a research note on Friday.

About Univest Financial

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations.