Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Rentokil Initial plc (LON:RTO) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as GBX 311.30 ($4.01) and last traded at GBX 317.30 ($4.09), with a volume of 54341910 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 335.18 ($4.32).

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Rentokil Initial from GBX 485 ($6.25) to GBX 465 ($5.99) and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Rentokil Initial from GBX 440 ($5.67) to GBX 430 ($5.54) and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 374.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 387.08. The firm has a market cap of £7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 113.35, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported GBX 21.25 ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Rentokil Initial had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 7.25%. On average, research analysts forecast that Rentokil Initial plc will post 25.8725561 earnings per share for the current year.

Rentokil Initial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a GBX 5.93 ($0.08) dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.78%. This is a boost from Rentokil Initial’s previous dividend of $3.16. Rentokil Initial’s payout ratio is 57.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andy M. Ransom sold 453,914 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 356 ($4.59), for a total transaction of £1,615,933.84 ($2,082,925.81). 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.