Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Acquires 185,470 Shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) by 147.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 310,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 185,470 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Cintas were worth $63,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CTAS. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Cintas by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 77,748 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,980,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Cintas by 0.4% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 203,373 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,799,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Cintas by 100.5% in the first quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,230 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,308,000 after purchasing an additional 5,628 shares during the period. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cintas by 35.5% in the 1st quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 546 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Cintas by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on CTAS shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cintas from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Cintas from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Argus upgraded shares of Cintas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cintas from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cintas from $233.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cintas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cintas

In other news, Director Martin Mucci acquired 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $222.55 per share, for a total transaction of $267,060.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,303.55. This represents a 84.45% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Todd M. Schneider sold 17,301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.90, for a total transaction of $3,821,790.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 622,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $137,557,080.80. This trade represents a 2.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 15.00% of the company’s stock.

Cintas Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CTAS opened at $225.10 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.80. Cintas Corporation has a twelve month low of $180.78 and a twelve month high of $229.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $90.71 billion, a PE ratio of 51.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.03.

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The business services provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. Cintas had a return on equity of 41.21% and a net margin of 17.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Cintas Corporation will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cintas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Cintas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cintas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.37%.

Cintas Profile

Cintas Corporation engages in the provision of corporate identity uniforms and related business services primarily in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Uniform Rental and Facility Services, First Aid and Safety Services, and All Other segments. The company rents and services uniforms and other garments, including flame resistant clothing, mats, mops and shop towels, and other ancillary items; and provides restroom cleaning services and supplies, as well as sells uniforms.