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CLARCOR Increases Dividend by 14%, Shares Rise Marginally

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Industrial goods manufacturer CLARCOR Inc. recently hiked its quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share from 22 cents, representing a 14.0% year-over-year increase. The increased dividend is payable on Nov 4, 2016 to shareholders of record as of Oct 17. Despite the healthy dividend hike, shares rose marginally after the announcement to close at $63.99 on Sep 27, 2016.

A steady dividend payout is part of the long-term strategy of CLARCOR to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to its stockholders. In addition, decent dividend increases at periodic intervals have been one of the company’s most attractive features.

CLARCOR had increased its quarterly dividend every year since 1983. The company had earlier raised the dividend payout from 20 cents to 22 cents per share in Oct 2015 and from 17 cents to 20 cents per share in Oct 2014. Prior to that, CLARCOR raised its quarterly dividend in Oct 2013 from 13.5 cents to 17 cents and in Oct 2012 from 12 cents to 13.5 cents per share.

The company also has a share repurchase program in place, under which it had $227,838 worth of shares remaining under its $250,000 stock repurchase program as of Aug 27, 2016. Over the years, CLARCOR has consistently returned significant cash to its shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Founded in 1904, CLARCOR manufactures filtration products, filtration systems and services, and consumer and industrial packaging products worldwide. Headquartered in Franklin, TN, the company operates in three principal segments Engine/Mobile Filtration, Industrial/Environmental Filtration and Packaging. In addition to direct marketing to the end-user customers, CLARCOR distributes its products through independent distributors, OEM (original equipment manufacturers) dealers, retail stores, and internal sales force.

CLARCOR presently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked players in the industry include Danaher Corp. (DHR - Free Report) , General Electric Company (GE - Free Report) and Raven Industries Inc. , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Danaher has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 11.7%. In addition, the stock has a solid earnings history, beating earnings estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters.

With long-term earnings growth expectations of 10.5%, General Electric is another star performer in the diversified operations industry. The stock has a solid earnings history, beating earnings estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters.

Raven has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 10% and is currently trading at a forward P/E of 44.4x.

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