Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $70.95 Million Position in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in shares of UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 164.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 367,786 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 228,586 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 2.04% of UniFirst worth $70,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the third quarter worth approximately $1,597,000. DDD Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,614,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UniFirst during the third quarter worth approximately $18,177,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 14.2% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 58,435 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $9,770,000 after purchasing an additional 7,265 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 66.7% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 31,163 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $6,011,000 after purchasing an additional 12,465 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

UniFirst Stock Performance

Shares of UNF opened at $270.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $260.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.91. UniFirst Corporation has a twelve month low of $147.66 and a twelve month high of $283.77.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The textile maker reported $1.13 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $622.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $614.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.365 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).