Callahan Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Cintas Corporation $CTAS

Callahan Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 27.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,924 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,978 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cintas were worth $4,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CTAS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Cintas by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cintas by 42.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Cintas during the second quarter valued at $625,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Cintas by 20.3% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 212,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,291,000 after acquiring an additional 35,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cintas by 50.2% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 92,924 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,710,000 after acquiring an additional 31,068 shares during the last quarter. 63.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CTAS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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 research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Cintas from $181.00 to $160.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Bank of America initiated coverage on Cintas in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered Cintas from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Cintas from $222.00 to $190.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $215.17.

Cintas Stock Performance

Cintas stock opened at $171.36 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $175.92 and its 200-day moving average is $185.45. The company has a market cap of $68.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Cintas Corporation has a 12 month low of $161.16 and a 12 month high of $229.24.

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 company had revenue of $2.84 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Cintas Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Cintas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Cintas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.85%.

Insider Activity at Cintas

In other news, Director Ronald W. Tysoe sold 4,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.87, for a total value of $834,607.42. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,448 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,273.76. This trade 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.

About Cintas

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.