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

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

Separately, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UniFirst currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.25.

UniFirst Stock Up 5.1 %

UNF opened at $215.15 on Wednesday. UniFirst has a twelve month low of $149.58 and a twelve month high of $243.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of $190.08 and a 200-day moving average of $186.51. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69 and a beta of 0.87.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $604.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $606.60 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 5.99%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that UniFirst will post 7.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. This is a positive change from UniFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust – 1 sold 9,500 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total transaction of $1,814,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,320,968.30. This trade 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 available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.08, for a total transaction of $113,337.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,086,075. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,294 shares of company stock worth $2,546,632 over the last quarter. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of UNF. Quarry LP raised its position in UniFirst by 1,627.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 190 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of UniFirst by 60.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 16.5% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 367 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of UniFirst by 291.6% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 466 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in UniFirst during the third quarter worth about $109,000. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

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.