Brandes Investment Partners LP Purchases 228,586 Shares of UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 164.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 367,786 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 228,586 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $70,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of UniFirst by 1.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 772,667 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $129,181,000 after purchasing an additional 9,576 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of UniFirst by 60.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 307,341 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $51,384,000 after purchasing an additional 115,802 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC raised its position in shares of UniFirst by 20.3% in the third quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 214,107 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $35,797,000 after purchasing an additional 36,179 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in UniFirst by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 157,085 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $30,302,000 after acquiring an additional 13,782 shares during the period. Finally, Topline Capital Management LLC increased its position in UniFirst by 64.1% during the third quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 122,381 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $20,461,000 after acquiring an additional 47,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

UniFirst Price Performance

UNF opened at $270.38 on Wednesday. UniFirst Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $147.66 and a fifty-two week high of $283.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $260.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.91. The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.64 and a beta of 0.63.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted 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). UniFirst had a return on equity of 6.49% and a net margin of 5.49%.The business had revenue of $622.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $614.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.365 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. UniFirst’s payout ratio is currently 19.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on UNF. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of UniFirst from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of UniFirst from $206.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of UniFirst from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $228.25.

UniFirst Company 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).