Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Stock Holdings in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 60.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,804 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 14,895 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $2,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UniFirst by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 865,014 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $166,861,000 after purchasing an additional 75,524 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 787,418 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $151,895,000 after purchasing an additional 14,751 shares during the last quarter. Engine Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 640.5% during the fourth quarter. Engine Capital Management LP now owns 459,871 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $88,709,000 after purchasing an additional 397,772 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 451,194 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $87,035,000 after purchasing an additional 143,853 shares during the period. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 164.2% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 367,786 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $70,946,000 after purchasing an additional 228,586 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on UNF. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $206.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of UniFirst from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of UniFirst from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UniFirst presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $228.25.

UniFirst Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of UNF stock opened at $264.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $262.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $239.51. The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.89 and a beta of 0.63. UniFirst Corporation has a 12-month low of $147.66 and a 12-month high of $283.77.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). UniFirst had a net margin of 5.49% and a return on equity of 6.49%. The business had revenue of $622.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $614.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.365 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).