Rentokil Initial (NYSE:RTO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 663,894 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the previous session’s volume of 645,936 shares.The stock last traded at $24.25 and had previously closed at $24.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RTO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised Rentokil Initial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group raised Rentokil Initial from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Rentokil Initial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Rentokil Initial Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.27.

Rentokil Initial Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a dividend of $0.2034 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rentokil Initial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in shares of Rentokil Initial during the fourth quarter worth about $225,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rentokil Initial during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,884,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,122,000 after buying an additional 81,134 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Rentokil Initial during the fourth quarter worth about $77,547,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 312,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,950,000 after buying an additional 18,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.