United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.97

United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of 1.97 per share by the construction company on Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This is a 10.1% increase from United Rentals’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.79.

United Rentals has a dividend payout ratio of 15.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect United Rentals to earn $49.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.6%.

United Rentals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:URI traded down $136.09 on Thursday, reaching $767.10. 1,228,373 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 629,296. The company has a 50-day moving average of $849.72 and a 200-day moving average of $888.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $48.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.69. United Rentals has a 1-year low of $525.91 and a 1-year high of $1,021.47.

United Rentals (NYSE:URI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The construction company reported $11.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.86 by ($0.77). The company had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. United Rentals had a net margin of 15.83% and a return on equity of 31.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $11.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that United Rentals will post 44.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Rentals declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 28th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to buy up to 8.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

United Rentals Company Profile

United Rentals, Inc (NYSE: URI) is a leading equipment rental company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm provides rental solutions and related services to construction, industrial, commercial, and municipal customers. Its business model centers on providing access to a broad fleet of equipment on a short-term or long-term basis, enabling customers to avoid the capital expenditure of ownership and to scale equipment use to match project needs.

The company’s product and service offerings span general construction equipment and a range of specialty categories, including aerial work platforms, earthmoving and excavation machines, material handling equipment, pumps, power and HVAC systems, trench and shoring solutions, and tools.