Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $757,000 in WillScot Holdings Corporation $WSC

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group bought a new stake in WillScot Holdings, purchasing 40,200 shares valued at about $757,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding about 95.81% of WillScot’s stock, while insiders have been selling shares recently.
• WillScot reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.21 versus the $0.16 estimate and revenue of $548.63 million versus $518.17 million expected, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 40,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $757,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in shares of WillScot by 117.3% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of WillScot by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,071 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of WillScot during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of WillScot by 130.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,766 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in shares of WillScot during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at WillScot

In other news, Director Bradley Lee Soultz sold 86,421 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.99, for a total value of $2,332,502.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 197,595 shares in the company, valued at $5,333,089.05. This trade represents a 30.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 155,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,205,113 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WSC shares. DA Davidson cut their price target on WillScot from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on WillScot from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of WillScot in a research report on Friday, May 8th. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of WillScot in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $26.00 price objective on WillScot in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.88.

WillScot Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:WSC opened at $25.73 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.71, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.00, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.79. WillScot Holdings Corporation has a 1 year low of $14.91 and a 1 year high of $31.88.

WillScot (NASDAQ:WSC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $548.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $518.17 million. WillScot had a positive return on equity of 20.65% and a negative net margin of 2.99%.WillScot's revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WillScot Holdings Corporation will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WillScot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. WillScot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -73.68%.

WillScot Profile

WillScot NASDAQ: WSC is a leading North American provider of modular space and portable storage solutions. The company designs, manufactures, leases and sells temporary and permanent modular buildings to serve sectors such as education, healthcare, construction, industrial and government. Its modular space offerings range from single‐unit office trailers and classrooms to complex multi‐unit configurations tailored to diverse project requirements.

In addition to modular structures, WillScot offers a broad portfolio of portable storage containers and related services, including site logistics, customization, delivery and installation.

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