King Luther Capital Management Corp Takes Position in Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO)

King Luther Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RTO. Keystone Financial Services acquired a new stake in Rentokil Initial in the fourth quarter valued at about $236,000. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. raised its stake in Rentokil Initial by 211.3% during the third quarter. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. now owns 214,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,345,000 after purchasing an additional 145,528 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Rentokil Initial by 165.8% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 55,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 34,687 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Rentokil Initial by 3.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,990,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,573,000 after purchasing an additional 617,227 shares during the period. Finally, ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC lifted its position in shares of Rentokil Initial by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 160,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,051,000 after purchasing an additional 35,100 shares in the last quarter. 9.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on RTO. Citigroup upgraded Rentokil Initial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rentokil Initial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Rentokil Initial Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:RTO opened at $21.89 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.49. Rentokil Initial plc has a 12 month low of $20.60 and a 12 month high of $34.07. The firm has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Rentokil Initial Announces Dividend

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

Rentokil Initial 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.