UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) Price Target Raised to $190.00 at UBS Group

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $186.00 to $190.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the textile maker’s stock.

UNF has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on UniFirst from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com raised UniFirst from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on UniFirst from $185.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $186.00.

UniFirst Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of UNF opened at $171.50 on Thursday. UniFirst has a twelve month low of $149.58 and a twelve month high of $187.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.25.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The textile maker reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $590.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.56 million. UniFirst had a net margin of 4.92% and a return on equity of 6.19%. Sell-side analysts predict that UniFirst will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UniFirst news, VP Michael A. Croatti sold 1,800 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $304,200.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $971,243. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other UniFirst news, VP Michael A. Croatti sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.00, for a total transaction of $304,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $971,243. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Cecelia Levenstein sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.73, for a total transaction of $1,746,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 87,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,898,081.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,033 shares of company stock worth $4,398,882. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in UniFirst in the fourth quarter worth about $28,362,000. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of UniFirst in the 1st quarter worth approximately $19,842,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in UniFirst by 1,555.8% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,320 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $9,594,000 after purchasing an additional 51,979 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in UniFirst by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 446,335 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $81,639,000 after buying an additional 21,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in UniFirst by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 678,973 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $124,193,000 after buying an additional 21,115 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

About UniFirst

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.