Ethic Inc. Sells 15,446 Shares of Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO)

Ethic Inc. trimmed its position in Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) by 55.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,217 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,446 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Rentokil Initial were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Rentokil Initial by 114.2% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 3,786,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,866 shares during the period. Snyder Capital Management L P purchased a new stake in shares of Rentokil Initial in the fourth quarter worth $24,297,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Rentokil Initial by 109.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,091,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,636,000 after buying an additional 570,330 shares during the period. Voss Capital LP grew its position in Rentokil Initial by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 3,090,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,246,000 after buying an additional 540,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Rentokil Initial in the 4th quarter worth about $11,436,000. 9.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on RTO. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Rentokil Initial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Rentokil Initial Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE RTO opened at $23.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.32. Rentokil Initial plc has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $34.07. The company has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.96.

Rentokil Initial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.3825 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. Rentokil Initial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.03%.

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.