Barclays Reiterates "Underweight" Rating for UniFirst (NYSE:UNF)

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "underweight" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Barclays in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $152.00 target price on the textile maker's stock, down from their prior target price of $180.00. Barclays's target price would indicate a potential downside of 13.32% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on UNF. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on UniFirst from $218.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $194.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of UniFirst from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $180.00.

Remove Ads

UniFirst Price Performance

UniFirst stock traded up $13.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $175.36. 65,045 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 100,365. UniFirst has a 1 year low of $149.58 and a 1 year high of $243.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $201.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.63.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 2nd. The textile maker reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $602.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $602.81 million. UniFirst had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 6.00%. The firm's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that UniFirst will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

UniFirst declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 8th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the textile maker to repurchase up to 3.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at UniFirst

In other news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,299 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.95, for a total transaction of $274,024.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,361,682.25. This represents a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in UniFirst by 3.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in UniFirst during the 3rd quarter valued at about $219,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in UniFirst by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,069 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UniFirst in the third quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of UniFirst by 30.8% during the third quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company's stock.

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.