Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) Shares Acquired by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its position in Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Republic Services were worth $3,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RSG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 144,719 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 218,729 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Republic Services by 23.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,131,850 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Republic Services by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,507,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $903,316,000 after purchasing an additional 73,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $626,553,000 after purchasing an additional 509,116 shares in the last quarter. 57.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RSG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Republic Services from $239.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Republic Services from $235.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on Republic Services in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Republic Services from $240.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, CIBC raised Republic Services from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $264.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Republic Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.88.

Republic Services Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of RSG opened at $243.57 on Wednesday. Republic Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $180.92 and a fifty-two week high of $244.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $228.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $214.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $76.06 billion, a PE ratio of 37.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.73.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.08 billion. Republic Services had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 12.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Republic Services, Inc. will post 6.86 EPS for the current year.

Republic Services Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Republic Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Gregg Brummer sold 6,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.20, for a total transaction of $1,436,062.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,416 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,931.20. This represents a 37.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Republic Services

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.