Man Group plc Buys New Stake in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 25,690 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,794,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tweedy Browne Co LLC acquired a new stake in UniFirst during the fourth quarter worth about $19,687,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in UniFirst by 31.9% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 18,267 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $4,596,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in UniFirst in the second quarter valued at approximately $580,008,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in UniFirst in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $17,165,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in UniFirst by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 151,925 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $38,223,000 after purchasing an additional 20,956 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

UniFirst Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of UniFirst stock opened at $282.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 44.54 and a beta of 0.63. UniFirst Corporation has a twelve month low of $147.66 and a twelve month high of $306.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $282.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.59.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The textile maker reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.84). UniFirst had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 4.65%.The business had revenue of $634.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $627.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.365 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).