Easterly Investment Partners LLC Buys New Position in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 13,125 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,532,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of UNF. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in UniFirst by 60.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 307,341 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $51,384,000 after purchasing an additional 115,802 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in UniFirst in the third quarter valued at approximately $18,177,000. Tweedy Browne Co LLC purchased a new stake in UniFirst in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,687,000. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in UniFirst in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,442,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in UniFirst by 85.4% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 105,005 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $19,764,000 after purchasing an additional 48,378 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised UniFirst from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price objective on UniFirst from $206.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on UniFirst from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UniFirst currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $228.25.

UniFirst Stock Performance

Shares of UNF stock opened at $265.87 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.63. UniFirst Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $147.66 and a fifty-two week high of $283.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $259.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.55.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 1st. The textile maker reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $622.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $614.91 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 6.49% and a net margin of 5.49%.UniFirst’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.365 dividend. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.78%.

UniFirst Company Profile

UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) is a leading provider of customized uniform rental and facility service programs in North America and Europe. The company specializes in the rental, laundering and maintenance of workwear, corporate apparel and protective garments for a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, hospitality, healthcare and food processing. UniFirst also offers a suite of facility service products such as entrance mats, restroom supplies, wipers, mops and hygienic services designed to help customers maintain clean and safe environments.

In addition to its core uniform rental business, UniFirst has expanded its product portfolio to include safety and first-responder gear, flame-resistant clothing, high-visibility apparel and personal protective equipment (PPE).