Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in Rentokil Initial PLC $RTO

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has acquired a new stake of 13,486 shares in Rentokil Initial PLC, valued at approximately $309,000, as revealed in their 13F filing with the SEC.
• Rentokil Initial recently had mixed analyst ratings, with Sanford C. Bernstein downgrading it from "market perform" to "underperform" while Deutsche Bank maintained a "buy" rating.
• The company has announced a semi-annual dividend of $0.2738 to be paid on September 23rd, with an ex-dividend date of August 15th, representing a yield of 240.0%.

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rentokil Initial PLC (NYSE:RTO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 13,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 90,687 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,296,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 8.0% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,043 shares of the company's stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,287 shares of the company's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 3.3% during the first quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 44,985 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 19,174 shares of the company's stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RTO has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a report on Monday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Rentokil Initial from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Rentokil Initial presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RTO traded down $0.3450 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $24.1550. 487,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 948,915. The firm has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.92. Rentokil Initial PLC has a twelve month low of $19.60 and a twelve month high of $34.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Rentokil Initial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2738 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 240.0%. Rentokil Initial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.80%.

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.