Voss Capital LP Invests $5.69 Million in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

Voss Capital LP bought a new position in UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 29,485 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,688,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of UniFirst by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,876 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of UniFirst by 2.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,027 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in UniFirst by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 768 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $148,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in UniFirst by 0.5% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 17,990 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $3,008,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in UniFirst by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,773 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

UniFirst Stock Performance

UNF opened at $265.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.94 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $261.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.73. UniFirst Corporation has a one year low of $147.66 and a one year high of $283.77.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $622.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $614.91 million. UniFirst had a net margin of 5.49% and a return on equity of 6.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.365 per share. 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 0.6%. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio 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).