Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stake in Cintas Corporation $CTAS

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,327,098 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 33,353 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Cintas were worth $437,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CTAS. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in Cintas by 5,641.3% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,016,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $208,682,000 after buying an additional 998,963 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Cintas by 2,653.0% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,003,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,640,000 after buying an additional 966,597 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its position in Cintas by 275.2% during the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,123,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $230,556,000 after buying an additional 823,885 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP raised its position in Cintas by 5,341.8% during the 3rd quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP now owns 747,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,352,000 after buying an additional 733,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Cintas by 2,286.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 736,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $138,536,000 after buying an additional 705,751 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CTAS. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Cintas from $222.00 to $190.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Cintas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cintas in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. 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 objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of 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 issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cintas

In other news, Director Ronald W. Tysoe sold 4,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.87, for a total transaction of $834,607.42. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,015,273.76. This represents a 17.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 14.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cintas Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CTAS opened at $172.93 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Cintas Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $161.16 and a fifty-two week high of $229.24. The stock has a market cap of $69.19 billion, a PE ratio of 48.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.23.

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

Cintas Dividend Announcement

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

Cintas 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.