Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,535 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $1,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 367 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in UniFirst by 3.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of UniFirst by 60.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 4,231 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 21,491 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $3,686,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on UNF. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, UniFirst has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.50.

Insider Transactions at UniFirst

In related news, CEO Steven S. Sintros sold 3,207 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.04, for a total value of $619,079.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,357,105.84. This trade represents a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.08, for a total value of $113,337.96. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,086,075. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,294 shares of company stock valued at $2,546,632. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

UniFirst Stock Performance

NYSE:UNF opened at $220.15 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 0.87. UniFirst Co. has a one year low of $149.58 and a one year high of $243.70. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.45.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $604.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $606.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. UniFirst’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that UniFirst Co. will post 7.68 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a positive change from UniFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.90%.

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.