HighTower Advisors LLC Has $14.73 Million Stock Holdings in Cintas Corporation $CTAS

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 78,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,016 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cintas were worth $14,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cintas by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,948,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,994,594,000 after buying an additional 564,487 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Cintas by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,729,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $517,466,000 after buying an additional 158,785 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Cintas by 0.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,559,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $524,460,000 after acquiring an additional 12,841 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Cintas by 39.0% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,223,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $442,548,000 after acquiring an additional 623,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Cintas by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,002,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $376,647,000 after acquiring an additional 181,952 shares in the last quarter. 63.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CTAS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Cintas from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cintas in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Cintas from $181.00 to $160.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Cintas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Cintas in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $215.17.

Cintas Price Performance

Shares of CTAS opened at $172.93 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $174.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.85, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.96. Cintas Corporation has a 52 week low of $161.16 and a 52 week high of $229.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.24. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. Cintas had a return on equity of 41.47% and a net margin of 17.57%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Cintas Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Cintas Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Cintas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ronald W. Tysoe sold 4,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.87, for a total transaction of $834,607.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 22,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,015,273.76. The trade was a 17.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 14.90% of the company’s stock.

Cintas Company Profile

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) is a provider of business services and products focused on workplace appearance, safety and facility maintenance. The company is best known for its uniform rental and corporate apparel programs, which include rental, leasing and direct-purchase options, laundering and garment repair. Cintas markets its services to a wide range of end-users, including manufacturing, food service, healthcare, hospitality, retail and government customers.

Beyond uniforms, Cintas offers a suite of facility services and products designed to help organizations maintain clean, safe and compliant workplaces.