JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a GBX 500 ($6.18) price target on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on RTO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Rentokil Initial from GBX 575 ($7.10) to GBX 590 ($7.29) and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a GBX 600 ($7.41) price objective on shares of Rentokil Initial in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rentokil Initial has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of GBX 614 ($7.58).

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

Shares of LON RTO opened at GBX 410.50 ($5.07) on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 451.52 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 445.64. Rentokil Initial has a 52 week low of GBX 387.80 ($4.79) and a 52 week high of GBX 663.80 ($8.20). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 116.93, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of £10.34 billion, a PE ratio of 2,736.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.54.

Rentokil Initial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of GBX 5.93 ($0.07) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from Rentokil Initial’s previous dividend of $2.75. Rentokil Initial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6,000.00%.

Insider Transactions at Rentokil Initial

In other news, insider Andy M. Ransom sold 464,245 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 489 ($6.04), for a total transaction of £2,270,158.05 ($2,804,048.97). 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Rentokil Initial Company 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.