Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RTO. UBS Group raised shares of Rentokil Initial from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Barclays raised Rentokil Initial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Rentokil Initial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd.

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RTO opened at $25.12 on Tuesday. Rentokil Initial has a fifty-two week low of $23.39 and a fifty-two week high of $37.44. The company has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.21.

Rentokil Initial Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.2034 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. Rentokil Initial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.23%.

Institutional Trading of Rentokil Initial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of Rentokil Initial by 81.3% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in Rentokil Initial in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Rentokil Initial by 403.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Rentokil Initial in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rentokil Initial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 9.91% of the company’s stock.

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.