Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 451,678 Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 451,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,436,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 30.1% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 65.2% in the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 43,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after buying an additional 972 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 4.7% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 24,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 140.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 1,403 shares during the last quarter. 9.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on RTO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Rentokil Initial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Rentokil Initial Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Rentokil Initial stock opened at $22.53 on Friday. Rentokil Initial plc has a 12-month low of $20.60 and a 12-month high of $34.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $24.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.22.

Rentokil Initial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.3825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. Rentokil Initial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.71%.

Rentokil Initial Profile

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.