Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.40 Million Investment in WillScot Holdings Corporation $WSC

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in WillScot Holdings, buying 80,700 shares worth about $1.4 million in the first quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains very high at 95.81%, and several other hedge funds also increased their stakes in the company during recent quarters.
• WillScot recently beat earnings estimates with quarterly EPS of $0.21 versus $0.16 expected, while analysts currently have a Hold consensus and an average target price of $25.88.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 80,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,401,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of WillScot by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 33,684 shares of the company's stock worth $936,000 after purchasing an additional 6,651 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in WillScot by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 724,638 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,145,000 after purchasing an additional 8,963 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of WillScot by 6.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,814 shares of the company's stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of WillScot by 3.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 46,781 shares of the company's stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in WillScot by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 11,676 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 3,827 shares during the last quarter. 95.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on WillScot from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on WillScot from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of WillScot from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of WillScot in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of WillScot from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, WillScot has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.88.

WillScot Stock Down 2.6%

WSC opened at $26.66 on Friday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $25.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of -70.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.05. WillScot had a negative net margin of 2.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.65%. The business had revenue of $548.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $518.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. WillScot's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that WillScot Holdings Corporation will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

WillScot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. WillScot's payout ratio is presently -73.68%.

Insider Transactions at WillScot

In other WillScot news, Director Bradley Lee Soultz sold 4,317 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total transaction of $111,896.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 414,059 shares in the company, valued at $10,732,409.28. This represents a 1.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 155,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,205,113. Insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

WillScot Company 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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