Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 458 Shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 34.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,799 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNF. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in UniFirst by 464.6% in the 3rd 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. boosted its stake in shares of UniFirst by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 11,519 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,974,000 after acquiring an additional 2,281 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 2,707 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in UniFirst by 164.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,387 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 5,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in UniFirst in the 2nd quarter valued at about $471,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at UniFirst

In other news, 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 transaction of $619,079.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,357,105.84. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust – 1 sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total transaction of $1,814,215.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,320,968.30. The trade was a 35.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,294 shares of company stock worth $2,546,632 in the last 90 days. 0.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

UniFirst Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of UNF opened at $227.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.06 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $196.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $190.22. UniFirst Co. has a fifty-two week low of $149.58 and a fifty-two week 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 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. 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. Research analysts forecast that UniFirst Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on UNF shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, UniFirst currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $197.50.

About UniFirst

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.