Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company.

RTO has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Rentokil Initial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Institutional Trading of Rentokil Initial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RTO. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Rentokil Initial by 65.2% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in Rentokil Initial by 668.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 15,208.3% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,825 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Rentokil Initial by 486.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Rentokil Initial in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. 9.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rentokil Initial Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:RTO opened at $23.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a P/E/G ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Rentokil Initial has a 52 week low of $19.60 and a 52 week high of $34.07.

Rentokil Initial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.3825 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. Rentokil Initial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.03%.

About Rentokil Initial

Rentokil Initial plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides route-based services in North America, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and internationally. It offers a range of pest control services for rodents, and flying and crawling insects, as well as other forms of wildlife management for commercial customers.