Bank of Nova Scotia Lowers Stake in Cintas Corporation $CTAS

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its stake in shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 22.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,701 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Cintas were worth $16,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Caledonia Investments PLC purchased a new position in shares of Cintas in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,287,000. Riverbridge Partners LLC lifted its position in Cintas by 7.7% during the first quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 229,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,760,000 after acquiring an additional 16,437 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Cintas by 2,286.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 736,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $138,536,000 after acquiring an additional 705,751 shares during the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in Cintas in the first quarter valued at approximately $22,366,000. Finally, Suncoast Equity Management boosted its stake in Cintas by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 23,845 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,485,000 after acquiring an additional 8,330 shares in the last quarter. 63.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CTAS. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Cintas in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America raised Cintas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Cintas from $200.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Cintas from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Cintas from $181.00 to $160.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cintas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.31.

Cintas Price Performance

NASDAQ CTAS opened at $205.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $82.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.06, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $179.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.35. Cintas Corporation has a 1 year low of $161.16 and a 1 year high of $226.75.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The business services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Cintas had a return on equity of 42.05% and a net margin of 17.75%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. Cintas has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.360-5.500 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cintas Corporation will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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.