Universal (UVV) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Universal Corporation (NYSE: UVV) is a global agricultural company that supplies processed tobacco leaf and related products to manufacturers of cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, heated tobacco products and other tobacco products. The company purchases tobacco from growers, provides agronomic and technical support, and processes, blends, packs and stores leaf tobacco to meet customers’ specifications.

Through its Universal Leaf Tobacco subsidiaries and affiliated operations, Universal serves tobacco markets across multiple regions, including North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Its activities generally span the tobacco supply chain, from grower services and leaf procurement to processing, logistics and customer support. The company also offers certain tobacco-related services and products, including specialty tobacco ingredients and contract manufacturing capabilities through selected operations.

Universal traces its history to 1918 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. George C. Freeman III serves as the company’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. Universal’s business is primarily focused on agricultural sourcing and processing rather than the manufacture or marketing of finished tobacco products.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $43.00 to $43.82
• 50-Day Range: $43.31 to $54.86
• 52-Week Range: $43.00 to $59.38
• Volume: 178,121 shs
• Average Volume: 247,715 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.07 billion
• P/E Ratio: 55.89
• Dividend Yield: 7.71%
• Price Target: N/A
• Consensus Rating: Reduce

Universal Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Universal scored higher than 50% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 103rd out of 171 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Reduce

Consensus Rating

Universal has received a consensus rating of Reduce. The company's average rating score is 1.50, and is based on no strong buy ratings, no buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and 1 sell rating.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Universal has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 24.21%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Universal are expected to grow by 24.21% in the coming year, from $3.18 to $3.95 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Universal is 56.21, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.05.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Universal is 56.21, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 14.23.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Universal has a PEG Ratio of 13.62. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Universal has a P/B Ratio of 0.74. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

8.40% of the float of Universal has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Universal has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.23.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Universal has recently increased by 1.00%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Universal is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 7.67%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Universal has been increasing its dividend for 56 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Universal is 431.17%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on EPS estimates, Universal will have a dividend payout ratio of 84.05% in the coming year. This indicates that Universal may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.43

News Sentiment

Universal has a news sentiment score of 0.43. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.55 average news sentiment score of Consumer Staples companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 13 news articles for Universal this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

10 people have searched for UVV on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 25% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

12 people have added Universal to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 1,100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Universal insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $88,779.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

2.20% of the stock of Universal is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

81.00% of the stock of Universal is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 8/3 Dividend: 7/13/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 8/3 Dividend: 7/13/2026
• Dividend Payable: 8/03/2026
• Last Earnings: 8/05/2026
• Today: 9/23/2026
• Small-Cap Virtual Conference: 9/23/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 11/2 Dividend: 10/09/2026
• Record date for 11/2 Dividend: 10/12/2026
• Dividend Payable: 11/02/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/04/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 3/31/2027

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Tobacco
• Sub-Industry: Tobacco
• Current Symbol: NYSE:UVV
• CIK: 102037
• Web: www.universalcorp.com
• Phone: (804) 359-9311
• Fax: 804-254-3594
• Employees: 25,000
• Year Founded: 1886

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $0.77
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 55.89
• Forward P/E Ratio: 13.53
• P/E Growth: 13.62
• Net Income: $32.64 million
• Net Margins: 0.67%
• Pretax Margin: 2.45%
• Return on Equity: 3.50%
• Return on Assets: 1.74%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.43
• Current Ratio: 2.57
• Quick Ratio: 1.00

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $2.92 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.37
• Cash Flow: $6.41 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.71
• Book Value: $58.62 per share
• Price / Book: 0.73

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 24,900,000
• Free Float: 24,351,000
• Market Cap: $1.07 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.58