Rhumbline Advisers Sells 5,581 Shares of Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 3.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 179,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,581 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.18% of Cintas worth $126,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CTAS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cintas by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,299,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,206,969,000 after buying an additional 112,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cintas during the fourth quarter worth $872,895,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Cintas by 3.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 806,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $554,000,000 after buying an additional 27,470 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Cintas by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 726,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $437,842,000 after buying an additional 15,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Cintas by 6.3% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 638,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,402,000 after buying an additional 37,727 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Cintas Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CTAS opened at $799.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.31. Cintas Co. has a 1-year low of $474.74 and a 1-year high of $812.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $751.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $696.30.

Cintas shares are scheduled to split on the morning of Thursday, September 12th. The 4-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 2nd. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, September 11th.

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

Cintas announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cintas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost 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%. Cintas’s dividend payout ratio is 43.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on CTAS. Baird R W downgraded shares of Cintas from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cintas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cintas from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $530.00 to $570.00 in a research note on Friday, May 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cintas from $790.00 to $874.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cintas from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $742.36.

Cintas Profile

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.