UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UniFirst presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.50.

UniFirst Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of UNF opened at $220.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.71. UniFirst has a twelve month low of $149.58 and a twelve month high of $243.70.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $604.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $606.60 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 5.99%. UniFirst’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that UniFirst will post 7.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from UniFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is 17.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust – 1 sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total value of $1,814,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,320,968.30. This represents a 35.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven S. Sintros sold 3,207 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.04, for a total value of $619,079.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,357,105.84. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,294 shares of company stock valued at $2,546,632 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of UniFirst

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in UniFirst by 464.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,220 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,188,000 after acquiring an additional 33,919 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of UniFirst by 67.7% in the second quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,707 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in UniFirst by 164.2% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,387 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,666,000 after buying an additional 5,213 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in UniFirst by 255.1% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 4,542 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 3,263 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in UniFirst in the second quarter valued at about $471,000. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UniFirst Company Profile

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.