Strs Ohio Has $58,000 Stock Holdings in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Strs Ohio trimmed its stake in shares of UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 94.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 300 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $58,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UNF. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of UniFirst by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 27,152 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $4,724,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in UniFirst by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,069 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in UniFirst by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 8,966 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,560,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in UniFirst by 37.3% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 105,331 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $18,328,000 after acquiring an additional 28,589 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in UniFirst by 3.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 34,914 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $6,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of UniFirst in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on UniFirst from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on UniFirst from $206.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $228.25.

UniFirst Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE UNF opened at $256.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $258.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $214.60. UniFirst Corporation has a 12-month low of $147.66 and a 12-month high of $283.77. The company has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.81 and a beta of 0.63.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The textile maker reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $622.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $614.91 million. UniFirst had a net margin of 5.49% and a return on equity of 6.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.365 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UniFirst news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.54, for a total transaction of $347,758.56. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 6,461 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,745.94. This represents a 18.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

UniFirst Profile

UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) is a leading provider of customized uniform rental and facility service programs in North America and Europe. The company specializes in the rental, laundering and maintenance of workwear, corporate apparel and protective garments for a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, hospitality, healthcare and food processing. UniFirst also offers a suite of facility service products such as entrance mats, restroom supplies, wipers, mops and hygienic services designed to help customers maintain clean and safe environments.

In addition to its core uniform rental business, UniFirst has expanded its product portfolio to include safety and first-responder gear, flame-resistant clothing, high-visibility apparel and personal protective equipment (PPE).