Rhumbline Advisers Sells 368 Shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Rhumbline Advisers trimmed its holdings in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,298 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 368 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.27% of UniFirst worth $8,605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the 3rd quarter valued at $10,270,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in UniFirst by 464.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,220 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,188,000 after purchasing an additional 33,919 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in UniFirst by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 365,047 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $62,456,000 after purchasing an additional 32,860 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in UniFirst by 5.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 654,495 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $130,015,000 after buying an additional 32,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 173.9% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 47,968 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $9,529,000 after buying an additional 30,458 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on UNF shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, UniFirst presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at UniFirst

In other UniFirst news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total transaction of $274,024.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,361,682.25. The trade was a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

UniFirst Stock Down 0.1 %

UNF opened at $210.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $206.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.19. UniFirst Co. has a 52 week low of $149.58 and a 52 week high of $243.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.86 and a beta of 0.89.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. The firm had revenue of $604.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $606.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.90%.

UniFirst 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.