UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) Shares Sold by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE decreased its holdings in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,613 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of UniFirst by 464.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,220 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $8,188,000 after purchasing an additional 33,919 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in UniFirst by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 11,519 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,974,000 after buying an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in UniFirst in the fourth quarter valued at about $255,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in UniFirst by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 365,047 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $62,456,000 after buying an additional 32,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in UniFirst by 74.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 740 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on UNF. UBS Group boosted their price objective on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total transaction of $274,024.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,361,682.25. This represents a 16.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

UniFirst Price Performance

Shares of UNF stock opened at $205.27 on Wednesday. UniFirst Co. has a 12-month low of $149.58 and a 12-month high of $243.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.17.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $604.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $606.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given 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 yield of 0.68%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.90%.

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.