UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com downgraded shares of UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.25.

UniFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNF opened at $200.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85 and a beta of 0.82. UniFirst has a fifty-two week low of $149.58 and a fifty-two week high of $208.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.19.

UniFirst Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from UniFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. UniFirst’s payout ratio is 18.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.08, for a total transaction of $113,337.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,086,075. This trade represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust – 1 sold 9,500 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total value of $1,814,215.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,320,968.30. The trade was a 35.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,294 shares of company stock valued at $2,546,632. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UNF. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 291.6% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 466 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in UniFirst by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 349,298 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $69,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,136 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in UniFirst by 464.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,220 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,188,000 after acquiring an additional 33,919 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in UniFirst during the third quarter valued at about $301,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in UniFirst by 9.0% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,231 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,635,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About UniFirst

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.