Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Stake in Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Republic Services were worth $1,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Republic Services by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,590,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,740,083,000 after acquiring an additional 144,719 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Republic Services by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,262,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,259,855,000 after buying an additional 218,729 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Republic Services by 23.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,004,199 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,205,883,000 after buying an additional 1,131,850 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Republic Services by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,507,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $903,316,000 after buying an additional 73,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Republic Services by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,129,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $626,553,000 after acquiring an additional 509,116 shares during the last quarter. 57.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Gregg Brummer sold 6,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.20, for a total value of $1,436,062.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,376,931.20. This represents a 37.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Republic Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $219.00 to $237.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. CIBC upgraded shares of Republic Services from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $264.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Republic Services from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Republic Services from $235.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Republic Services from $239.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Republic Services Price Performance

Shares of Republic Services stock opened at $238.37 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $74.44 billion, a PE ratio of 36.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $213.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Republic Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $180.92 and a 12-month high of $241.09.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.21. Republic Services had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Republic Services, Inc. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Republic Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Republic Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.75%.

Republic Services Company Profile

Republic Services, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers environmental services in the United States and Canada. It is involved in the collection and processing of recyclable, solid waste, and industrial waste materials; transportation and disposal of non-hazardous and hazardous waste streams; and other environmental solutions.