California Public Employees Retirement System Increases Position in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF – Get Rating) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 38,721 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,569 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $7,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in UniFirst by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 36,400 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $7,025,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 10,852 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after buying an additional 1,689 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 4,258 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $822,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 2,843 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on UNF shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UniFirst from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of UniFirst from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $225.00 to $203.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 30th.

UniFirst Trading Down 0.4 %

UNF opened at $163.68 on Wednesday. UniFirst Co. has a 1-year low of $154.72 and a 1-year high of $205.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.55.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The textile maker reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.40). UniFirst had a return on equity of 6.56% and a net margin of 4.88%. The business had revenue of $542.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $531.68 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that UniFirst Co. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 7th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. UniFirst’s payout ratio is 22.63%.

About UniFirst

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UniFirst Corp. engages in the provision of workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing. It operates through following segments: the United States and Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing (MFG), Specialty Garments, First Aid, and Corporate. The U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning segment purchases, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells uniforms, protective clothing, and non-garment items.