Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $742.36.

Several research analysts have weighed in on CTAS shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Cintas from $790.00 to $874.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Cintas from $667.00 to $798.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Cintas from $775.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup cut Cintas from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $530.00 to $570.00 in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cintas from $700.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th.

Insider Activity at Cintas

In other Cintas news, Director Gerald S. Adolph sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $765.72, for a total value of $842,292.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,083,425.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 15.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cintas by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,378,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cintas by 111.5% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,355 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,151,000 after acquiring an additional 3,878 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Cintas by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,317,000 after acquiring an additional 2,439 shares in the last quarter. Bensler LLC increased its position in Cintas by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 14,349 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,048,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Milestone Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cintas in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,318,000. Institutional investors own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Cintas Stock Performance

CTAS opened at $805.12 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $81.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.60, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.31. Cintas has a 1-year low of $474.74 and a 1-year high of $807.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $747.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $693.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Shares of Cintas are going to split on Thursday, September 12th. The 4-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 2nd. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, September 11th.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The business services provider reported $3.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.80 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.47 billion. Cintas had a return on equity of 37.82% and a net margin of 16.38%. Cintas’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cintas will post 16.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cintas declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cintas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.56 per share. This is a positive change from Cintas’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Cintas’s payout ratio is currently 43.09%.

About Cintas

Cintas Corporation engages in the provision of corporate identity uniforms and related business services primarily in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Uniform Rental and Facility Services, First Aid and Safety Services, and All Other segments. The company rents and services uniforms and other garments, including flame resistant clothing, mats, mops and shop towels, and other ancillary items; and provides restroom cleaning services and supplies, as well as sells uniforms.