New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Holdings in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,353 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $3,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in UniFirst by 464.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,220 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,188,000 after buying an additional 33,919 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in UniFirst by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 11,519 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,974,000 after buying an additional 2,281 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in UniFirst in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in UniFirst by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 365,047 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $62,456,000 after buying an additional 32,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in UniFirst by 164.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,387 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after buying an additional 5,213 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.50.

UniFirst Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of UniFirst stock opened at $209.91 on Friday. UniFirst Co. has a fifty-two week low of $149.58 and a fifty-two week high of $243.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $205.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.82.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $604.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $606.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. UniFirst’s payout ratio is 17.90%.

Insider Transactions at UniFirst

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total transaction of $274,024.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,361,682.25. This represents a 16.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

UniFirst 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.