UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) Shares Acquired by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,886 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.06% of UniFirst worth $1,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the third quarter valued at about $10,270,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of UniFirst by 464.6% during 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 during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in UniFirst by 9.9% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $130,015,000 after purchasing an additional 32,447 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in UniFirst by 173.9% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 47,968 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $9,529,000 after purchasing an additional 30,458 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on UNF. UBS Group lifted their price objective on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at UniFirst

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,361,682.25. The trade was a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

UniFirst Trading Down 0.1 %

UniFirst stock opened at $210.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.86 and a beta of 0.89. UniFirst Co. has a twelve month low of $149.58 and a twelve month high of $243.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.19.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $604.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $606.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. UniFirst’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.