William Blair Brokers Boost Earnings Estimates for UniFirst

UniFirst Co. (NYSE:UNF - Free Report) - Analysts at William Blair raised their FY2025 EPS estimates for UniFirst in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 8th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now anticipates that the textile maker will post earnings of $7.63 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $7.57. The consensus estimate for UniFirst's current full-year earnings is $7.68 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for UniFirst's Q2 2026 earnings at $1.59 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $2.49 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.89 EPS.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on UNF. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of UniFirst from $199.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on UniFirst from $190.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of UniFirst from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $197.50.

UniFirst Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:UNF traded up $5.82 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $226.52. 197,059 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 365,637. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.87. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $192.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.84. UniFirst has a 52-week low of $149.58 and a 52-week high of $243.70.

UniFirst (NYSE:UNF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The textile maker reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.09. The company 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 7.47% and a net margin of 5.99%. UniFirst's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share.

UniFirst Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from UniFirst's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. UniFirst's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steven S. Sintros sold 3,207 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.04, for a total transaction of $619,079.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,357,105.84. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder The Ronald D. Croatti Trust - 1 sold 9,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.97, for a total value of $1,814,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,320,968.30. This represents a 35.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,294 shares of company stock worth $2,546,632 in the last quarter. 0.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UniFirst

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP grew its holdings in UniFirst by 1,627.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 190 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of UniFirst by 60.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in UniFirst by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 367 shares of the textile maker's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of UniFirst by 291.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 466 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of UniFirst during the 3rd quarter valued at $109,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company's stock.

UniFirst Company Profile

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.