United Rentals (NYSE:URI) Cut to “Neutral” at Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of United Rentals (NYSE:URI) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $760.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock.

URI has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of United Rentals from $770.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of United Rentals from $780.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cfra Research upgraded shares of United Rentals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group upgraded shares of United Rentals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $485.00 to $780.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of United Rentals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $705.00 to $666.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, United Rentals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $753.64.

United Rentals Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of URI opened at $695.09 on Friday. United Rentals has a one year low of $525.91 and a one year high of $896.98. The company has a market cap of $45.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $662.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $692.54.

United Rentals (NYSE:URI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $8.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.92 by ($0.06). United Rentals had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 34.21%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that United Rentals will post 44.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Rentals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $1.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $7.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. United Rentals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.54%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael D. Durand sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.28, for a total value of $688,908.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,748 shares in the company, valued at $5,478,697.44. This represents a 11.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Andrew B. Limoges sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.86, for a total transaction of $499,748.88. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,921 shares in the company, valued at $1,355,957.06. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of URI. Norges Bank bought a new position in United Rentals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $695,716,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in United Rentals by 77,674.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 887,407 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $556,138,000 after buying an additional 886,266 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in United Rentals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $402,291,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in United Rentals by 98.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,093,805 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $685,488,000 after buying an additional 541,579 shares during the period. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in United Rentals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $330,989,000. 96.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

United Rentals Company Profile

United Rentals, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals and Specialty. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment includes backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools for construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities.