SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 790 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 79 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 33,919 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,281 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in UniFirst during the fourth quarter worth $255,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in UniFirst by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 365,047 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $62,456,000 after purchasing an additional 32,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of UniFirst by 164.2% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,387 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,666,000 after buying an additional 5,213 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of UniFirst 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,361,682.25. The trade was a 16.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UniFirst Trading Up 1.7 %

UniFirst stock opened at $210.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.92 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.37. UniFirst Co. has a twelve month low of $149.58 and a twelve month 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 (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 is Friday, March 7th. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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.

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.