Raiffeisen Bank International AG Makes New Investment in Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 2,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Republic Services by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,590,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,740,083,000 after buying an additional 144,719 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Republic Services by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,262,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,259,855,000 after purchasing an additional 218,729 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Republic Services by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,317,804 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,069,836,000 after purchasing an additional 499,237 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Republic Services by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,565,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $918,045,000 after purchasing an additional 57,616 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Republic Services during the 4th quarter worth $553,039,000. 57.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Republic Services news, COO Gregg Brummer sold 6,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.20, for a total transaction of $1,436,062.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,931.20. The trade was a 37.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on RSG. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Republic Services from $240.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on Republic Services from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Republic Services from $232.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Republic Services from $260.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Republic Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Republic Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.00.

Republic Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RSG opened at $247.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $241.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.66. Republic Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $180.92 and a 1-year high of $253.54.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.08 billion. Republic Services had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Republic Services, Inc. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Republic Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Republic Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.99%.

About Republic Services

Republic Services, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers environmental services in the United States and Canada. It is involved in the collection and processing of recyclable, solid waste, and industrial waste materials; transportation and disposal of non-hazardous and hazardous waste streams; and other environmental solutions.