Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Decreases Position in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its position in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 16.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,569 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in UniFirst by 69.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 414 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of UniFirst during the second quarter valued at $92,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the first quarter valued at $166,000. Personal CFO Solutions LLC bought a new stake in UniFirst in the 4th quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in UniFirst in the 2nd quarter worth about $248,000. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on UNF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of UniFirst from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UniFirst from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of UniFirst from $185.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on UniFirst from $186.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 550 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $96,250.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,095,325. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $96,250.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,095,325. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael Iandoli sold 682 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.30, for a total transaction of $132,512.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,759.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,457 shares of company stock worth $269,413 over the last quarter. 0.74% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

UniFirst Trading Up 0.4 %

UNF opened at $192.39 on Friday. UniFirst Co. has a 12-month low of $149.58 and a 12-month high of $197.88. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50 day moving average is $187.15 and its 200 day moving average is $172.36.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The textile maker reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.31. UniFirst had a net margin of 5.44% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm had revenue of $603.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $600.97 million. As a group, analysts predict that UniFirst Co. will post 7.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. UniFirst’s payout ratio is 19.27%.

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.