Fifth Third Bancorp Decreases Stake in Cintas Corporation $CTAS

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its stake in shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 584,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 47,032 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Cintas were worth $119,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Cintas by 6.1% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 129,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,505,000 after acquiring an additional 7,386 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cintas by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 81,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,291 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 21.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 15,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,739 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 15.2% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 27,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,544,000 after purchasing an additional 3,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cintas by 9.9% during the third quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $846,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $184.00 price objective on Cintas in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $181.00 target price (up previously from $176.00) on shares of Cintas in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cintas from a “cautious” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cintas in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Cintas from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.08.

Cintas Stock Performance

Shares of Cintas stock opened at $193.44 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.18. Cintas Corporation has a 12 month low of $180.39 and a 12 month high of $229.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.40, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The business services provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Cintas had a net margin of 17.58% and a return on equity of 41.07%. Cintas’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. Cintas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.810-4.880 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cintas Corporation will post 4.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Cintas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. Cintas’s payout ratio is 52.48%.

Cintas declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Cintas

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) is a provider of business services and products focused on workplace appearance, safety and facility maintenance. The company is best known for its uniform rental and corporate apparel programs, which include rental, leasing and direct-purchase options, laundering and garment repair. Cintas markets its services to a wide range of end-users, including manufacturing, food service, healthcare, hospitality, retail and government customers.

Beyond uniforms, Cintas offers a suite of facility services and products designed to help organizations maintain clean, safe and compliant workplaces.