Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Unifirst Corporation $UNF

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in Unifirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,667,319 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 24,099 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 8.99% of Unifirst worth $278,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of UNF. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Unifirst by 285.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 135 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Unifirst in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Unifirst by 474.1% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 155 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Unifirst by 378.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 153 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Unifirst during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Unifirst

In other Unifirst news, VP David Martin Katz sold 1,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.54, for a total transaction of $347,758.56. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 6,461 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,745.94. This represents a 18.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on UNF. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Unifirst from $182.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $198.00 target price on Unifirst in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Unifirst from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Unifirst in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $181.00.

Unifirst Price Performance

NYSE UNF opened at $234.79 on Friday. Unifirst Corporation has a 1-year low of $147.66 and a 1-year high of $243.45. The company has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $212.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.72.

Unifirst (NYSE:UNF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The textile maker reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $621.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $615.23 million. Unifirst had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 6.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. Unifirst has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.580-6.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Unifirst Corporation will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unifirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.365 dividend. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Unifirst’s payout ratio is currently 19.31%.

Unifirst Company Profile

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).