Ulysses Management LLC Buys New Stake in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Ulysses Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 48,618 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $8,318,000. UniFirst comprises approximately 1.3% of Ulysses Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in UniFirst by 464.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,220 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,188,000 after acquiring an additional 33,919 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of UniFirst in the 4th quarter worth $255,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UniFirst by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 365,047 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $62,456,000 after buying an additional 32,860 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of UniFirst by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 387,326 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $66,268,000 after buying an additional 20,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of UniFirst by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,472 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,278,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $194.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $152.00 price objective (down from $180.00) on shares of UniFirst in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $218.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UniFirst has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.00.

UniFirst Trading Up 0.7%

UNF stock opened at $188.68 on Tuesday. UniFirst Co. has a 12 month low of $149.58 and a 12 month high of $243.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $180.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13 and a beta of 0.87.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 2nd. The textile maker reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.03). UniFirst had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $602.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $602.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the textile maker to reacquire up to 3.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. UniFirst’s payout ratio is 17.41%.

UniFirst Company Profile

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.