Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Holdings in Unifirst Corporation $UNF

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Unifirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 118.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,830 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 5,864 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Unifirst were worth $2,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Unifirst by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 42,761 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,048,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Unifirst by 7.3% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 3,853 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in Unifirst by 5.8% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 3,399 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in Unifirst in the 2nd quarter valued at about $565,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Unifirst by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 364,411 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $68,598,000 after buying an additional 3,586 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on UNF. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Unifirst from $152.00 to $145.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Unifirst from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Unifirst in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group set a $182.00 price objective on Unifirst in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $174.75.

Unifirst Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:UNF opened at $176.95 on Thursday. Unifirst Corporation has a 52 week low of $147.66 and a 52 week high of $243.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $162.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17 and a beta of 0.76.

Unifirst (NYSE:UNF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.13. Unifirst had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 6.10%.The firm had revenue of $614.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $607.02 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Unifirst has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.580-6.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Unifirst Corporation will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unifirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.365 per share. This is a boost from Unifirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Unifirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.30%.

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.