EntryPoint Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 1,508 UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF)

EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,508 shares of the textile maker’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in UNF. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new position in UniFirst during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 1,105.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 229 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of UniFirst by 252.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 345 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in UniFirst by 187.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 359 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in UniFirst by 291.6% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 466 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of UniFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total transaction of $274,024.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,361,682.25. This trade represents a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on UNF shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $235.00 to $194.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded UniFirst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

UniFirst Stock Down 2.4 %

UNF opened at $173.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $210.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $198.59. UniFirst Co. has a 52-week low of $149.58 and a 52-week high of $243.70. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22 and a beta of 0.89.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $604.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $606.60 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.26 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that UniFirst Co. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

UniFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. UniFirst’s payout ratio is currently 17.90%.

About UniFirst

UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company operates through U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, and First Aid segments. It designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments.