London Co. of Virginia Has $161.15 Million Holdings in UniFirst Corporation $UNF

London Co. of Virginia reduced its position in UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 835,370 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 67,635 shares during the period. London Co. of Virginia owned about 4.62% of UniFirst worth $161,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of UNF. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 164.2% during the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 367,786 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $70,946,000 after acquiring an additional 228,586 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 451,194 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $87,035,000 after acquiring an additional 143,853 shares during the last quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of UniFirst during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,687,000. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of UniFirst during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,442,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 85.4% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 105,005 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $19,764,000 after acquiring an additional 48,378 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on UniFirst from $206.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded UniFirst from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UniFirst has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $228.25.

UniFirst Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNF opened at $265.92 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $261.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.55. UniFirst Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $147.66 and a fifty-two week high of $283.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03 and a beta of 0.63.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The textile maker reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.08). UniFirst had a net margin of 5.49% and a return on equity of 6.49%. The company had revenue of $622.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $614.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that UniFirst Corporation will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.365 dividend. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. UniFirst’s dividend payout ratio is 19.78%.

About UniFirst

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).