Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Rentokil Initial plc (LON:RTO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as GBX 311.30 ($3.98) and last traded at GBX 317.30 ($4.05), with a volume of 54341910 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 335.18 ($4.28).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Rentokil Initial from GBX 440 ($5.62) to GBX 430 ($5.49) and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Rentokil Initial from GBX 485 ($6.20) to GBX 465 ($5.94) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Rentokil Initial Stock Down 2.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 113.35, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market capitalization of £7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is GBX 370.32 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 384.99.

Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Rentokil Initial plc will post 25.8725561 earnings per share for the current year.

Rentokil Initial Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Rentokil Initial

In other Rentokil Initial news, insider Andy M. Ransom sold 453,914 shares of Rentokil Initial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 356 ($4.55), for a total value of £1,615,933.84 ($2,064,827.29). 0.32% 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.