Republic Services, Inc. $RSG Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 464,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 20,651 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Republic Services were worth $97,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of RSG. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Republic Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,798,092,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Republic Services during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $682,573,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Republic Services during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $245,506,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Republic Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $236,628,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Republic Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $220,527,000. 57.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Republic Services

In other news, major shareholder Cascade Investment, L.L.C. bought 409,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $221.49 per share, for a total transaction of $90,700,155.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,166,330 shares in the company, valued at $25,729,680,431.70. The trade was a 0.35% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased a total of 6,254,462 shares of company stock worth $1,380,321,958 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on RSG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Republic Services from $270.00 to $258.00 in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce decreased their price objective on shares of Republic Services from $249.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Republic Services from $234.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Republic Services from $272.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Republic Services from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.32.

Republic Services Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE RSG opened at $245.90 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.99. Republic Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.41 and a 52-week high of $249.37. The firm has a market cap of $75.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.42 billion. Republic Services had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 18.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Republic Services, Inc. will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Republic Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 4th. Republic Services’s payout ratio is 37.07%.

Republic Services Profile

Republic Services, Inc is an environmental services company that provides waste collection, recycling and disposal solutions for residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Its services include curbside collection, dumpster and roll-off container services, transfer station operations, landfill management and recycling processing.

The company also provides specialized environmental services, including hazardous waste management, emergency response, remediation and other sustainability-related solutions for businesses and government organizations.