Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) Short Interest Update

Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,750,000 shares, a decrease of 40.1% from the February 28th total of 2,920,000 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 727,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Rentokil Initial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 65.2% during the fourth quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in Rentokil Initial by 30.1% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Rentokil Initial by 15,208.3% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,825 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Rentokil Initial by 486.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,611 shares during the period. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rentokil Initial during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 9.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on RTO. Citigroup upgraded shares of Rentokil Initial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Rentokil Initial Price Performance

RTO stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.92. The stock had a trading volume of 772,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,189. Rentokil Initial has a 1-year low of $20.60 and a 1-year high of $34.07. The stock has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $24.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Rentokil Initial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.3825 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Rentokil Initial’s payout ratio is 43.71%.

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.