Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Position in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,613 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $1,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 4.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 195,832 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $31,923,000 after purchasing an additional 8,734 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of UniFirst by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 106,946 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $17,433,000 after acquiring an additional 3,023 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al lifted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 36,782 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $5,996,000 after acquiring an additional 14,087 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 424,650 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $69,222,000 after acquiring an additional 20,708 shares during the period. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of UniFirst by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 848,299 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $155,162,000 after acquiring an additional 4,078 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on UNF shares. Barclays raised their price objective on UniFirst from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of UniFirst from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of UniFirst from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of UniFirst in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UniFirst has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.75.

UniFirst Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE UNF opened at $164.24 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.88 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $166.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.70. UniFirst Co. has a 52-week low of $150.50 and a 52-week high of $187.22.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The textile maker reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.19). UniFirst had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 4.92%. The business had revenue of $590.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.56 million. On average, analysts anticipate that UniFirst Co. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP William Masters Ross sold 2,282 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.27, for a total value of $399,966.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $707,039.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.74% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About UniFirst

UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company operates through U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, and First Aid segments. It designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments.