Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $1.39 Million Stake in UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,140 shares of the textile maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in UniFirst were worth $1,393,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNF. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new stake in UniFirst during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of UniFirst by 1,105.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 229 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of UniFirst by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 367 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of UniFirst by 291.6% in the 3rd 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. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of UniFirst by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 740 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on UNF shares. StockNews.com cut UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total value of $274,024.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,361,682.25. The trade was a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

UniFirst Trading Up 2.3 %

UNF stock opened at $214.71 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $208.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.91. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46 and a beta of 0.89. UniFirst Co. has a 1-year low of $149.58 and a 1-year high of $243.70.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $604.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $606.60 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.90%.

UniFirst Company Profile

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.