Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases 51,716 Shares of WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System significantly increased its stake in WillScot Holdings Corporation by 490.2%, acquiring an additional 51,716 shares for a total of 62,265 shares, valued at approximately $1.73 million.
• In recent analyst ratings, WillScot has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold", with a price target of $36.00, despite a recent drop in stock price by 1.3% to around $24.35.
• WillScot announced a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share to shareholders of record on September 3rd, representing an annualized yield of 1.1%.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC - Free Report) by 490.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,265 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 51,716 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in WillScot were worth $1,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WillScot by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,338,511 shares of the company's stock valued at $509,811,000 after buying an additional 1,924,653 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of WillScot by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,554,101 shares of the company's stock valued at $185,785,000 after acquiring an additional 595,063 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of WillScot by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,307,738 shares of the company's stock worth $177,544,000 after purchasing an additional 897,184 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in shares of WillScot in the 1st quarter valued at about $145,392,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in WillScot by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,832,316 shares of the company's stock valued at $161,641,000 after purchasing an additional 223,462 shares during the last quarter. 95.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of WillScot in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on WillScot from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of WillScot from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.00.

WillScot Stock Performance

Shares of WillScot stock traded down $0.88 during trading on Thursday, reaching $24.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,541,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,680,639. WillScot Holdings Corporation has a 52 week low of $21.91 and a 52 week high of $42.15. The firm has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.20. The business's 50-day moving average price is $28.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.55.

WillScot (NASDAQ:WSC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $589.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.07 million. WillScot had a return on equity of 24.83% and a net margin of 4.66%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that WillScot Holdings Corporation will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

WillScot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 3rd. WillScot's dividend payout ratio is presently 46.67%.

Insider Transactions at WillScot

In other WillScot news, CEO Bradley Lee Soultz bought 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 418,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,396,643.60. This trade represents a 0.48% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dominick P. Zarcone purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.19 per share, with a total value of $261,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 15,384 shares in the company, valued at $402,906.96. This represents a 185.74% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 15,000 shares of company stock worth $387,650 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

WillScot Company Profile

WillScot Holdings Corporation provides workspace and portable storage solutions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It operates in two segments, Modular Solutions and Storage Solutions. Its modular solutions include panelized and stackable offices, single-wide modular space units, section modulars and redi-plex, classrooms, ground level offices, blast-resistant modules, clearspan structures, and other modular space; and portable storage solutions, such as portable and cold storage containers, as well as trailers.