First Hawaiian Bank Grows Holdings in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 24.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,328 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of UniFirst by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in UniFirst by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 740 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in UniFirst by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,231 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in UniFirst by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 8,140 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in UniFirst by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 790 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UNF shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of UniFirst from $218.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $152.00 price target (down from $180.00) on shares of UniFirst in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, UniFirst has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.00.

UniFirst Price Performance

Shares of UNF stock opened at $188.90 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.16 and a beta of 0.87. UniFirst Co. has a 1-year low of $149.58 and a 1-year high of $243.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.69.

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

UniFirst Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.41%.

UniFirst declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 8th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the textile maker to purchase up to 3.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.