Short Interest in Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) Drops By 20.1%

Cintas Co. (NASDAQ:CTAS) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,860,000 shares, a drop of 20.1% from the February 13th total of 4,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,950,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Cintas

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 299.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,555,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,996,697,000 after buying an additional 10,910,285 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 297.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,781,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,807,860,000 after buying an additional 6,571,128 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,468,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,544,822,000 after buying an additional 219,809 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,118,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $935,146,000 after buying an additional 296,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cintas during the fourth quarter worth $877,216,000. Institutional investors own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Cintas from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Cintas in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Cintas from $236.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Cintas from $209.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Cintas from $191.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cintas presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $199.79.

Cintas Price Performance

NASDAQ:CTAS traded up $2.90 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $196.31. The stock had a trading volume of 820,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,521,616. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.22 billion, a PE ratio of 47.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Cintas has a 12 month low of $155.89 and a 12 month high of $228.12.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. Cintas had a net margin of 17.23% and a return on equity of 40.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cintas will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Cintas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Cintas’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Cintas Company Profile

Cintas Corporation engages in the provision of corporate identity uniforms and related business services primarily in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Uniform Rental and Facility Services, First Aid and Safety Services, and All Other segments. The company rents and services uniforms and other garments, including flame resistant clothing, mats, mops and shop towels, and other ancillary items; and provides restroom cleaning services and supplies, as well as sells uniforms.