First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Position in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 16.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 378,833 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 72,361 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $95,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in UniFirst by 474.1% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 155 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UniFirst in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in UniFirst by 378.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 153 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in UniFirst during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of UniFirst by 1,244.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 336 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of UniFirst from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $262.00 target price on UniFirst in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $246.67.

UniFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNF opened at $293.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.35 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $270.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.74. UniFirst Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $147.66 and a fifty-two week high of $295.60.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The textile maker reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.84). The company had revenue of $634.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $627.66 million. UniFirst had a net margin of 4.65% and a return on equity of 6.44%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.365 per share. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. UniFirst’s payout ratio is presently 23.03%.

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).