Axiom Investors LLC DE Reduces Holdings in Cintas Corporation $CTAS

Axiom Investors LLC DE decreased its position in shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 20.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 539,537 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 142,132 shares during the quarter. Cintas makes up approximately 0.9% of Axiom Investors LLC DE’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Axiom Investors LLC DE’s holdings in Cintas were worth $101,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cintas by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,948,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,994,594,000 after buying an additional 564,487 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cintas by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,293,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,746,453,000 after buying an additional 97,220 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cintas during the fourth quarter worth about $923,672,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Cintas by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,729,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $517,466,000 after buying an additional 158,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cintas by 0.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,559,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $524,460,000 after buying an additional 12,841 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cintas

In related news, Director Ronald W. Tysoe sold 4,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.87, for a total value of $834,607.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 22,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,015,273.76. This represents a 17.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 14.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CTAS. Robert W. Baird raised Cintas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Cintas in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cintas in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Cintas from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Cintas from $181.00 to $160.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cintas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.17.

Cintas Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of CTAS opened at $179.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $172.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a market capitalization of $71.96 billion, a PE ratio of 50.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.94. Cintas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $161.16 and a fifty-two week high of $226.75.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. Cintas had a return on equity of 41.47% and a net margin of 17.57%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Cintas Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Cintas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Cintas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.85%.

Cintas Company Profile

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.