Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires Shares of 3,537 UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,537 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $887,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UNF. Burney Co. raised its holdings in UniFirst by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 4,329 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in UniFirst by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,876 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in UniFirst by 2.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,027 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $758,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,238 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 768 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of UniFirst from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $262.00 price objective on shares of UniFirst in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $246.67.

UniFirst Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:UNF opened at $301.54 on Thursday. UniFirst Corporation has a twelve month low of $147.66 and a twelve month high of $306.67. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.56 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $253.19.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The textile maker reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.84). The company had revenue of $634.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $627.66 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 4.65%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.365 dividend. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. UniFirst’s payout ratio is 23.03%.

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).