Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $12.57 Million Holdings in Unifirst Corporation $UNF

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in Unifirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) by 27.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,783 shares of the textile maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,491 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 0.36% of Unifirst worth $12,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Unifirst in the second quarter worth approximately $565,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Unifirst during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $335,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Unifirst by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 364,411 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $68,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,586 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Unifirst by 150.5% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,855 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 3,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Unifirst by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 793,765 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $149,402,000 after purchasing an additional 4,339 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Unifirst Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNF opened at $177.13 on Wednesday. Unifirst Corporation has a 52-week low of $147.66 and a 52-week high of $243.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 0.81.

Unifirst (NYSE:UNF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.13. Unifirst had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 6.10%.The firm had revenue of $614.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $607.02 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Unifirst has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.580-6.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Unifirst Corporation will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unifirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.365 dividend. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Unifirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Unifirst’s payout ratio is 18.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $182.00 target price on shares of Unifirst in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Unifirst from $152.00 to $145.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Unifirst in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Unifirst from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $174.75.

Unifirst 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.