WillScot Holdings Corporation $WSC Shares Bought by Granahan Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Granahan Investment Management boosted its stake in WillScot by 26.2% in Q1, buying 77,932 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 375,784 shares worth about $6.5 million.
• WillScot reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting EPS of $0.21 versus estimates of $0.16 and revenue of $548.6 million, although revenue was still down 2% from a year earlier.
• Analysts are mixed on the stock: the consensus rating is Hold with an average price target of $26.25, while insider activity has included recent share sales by a director.

Granahan Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC - Free Report) by 26.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 375,784 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 77,932 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.21% of WillScot worth $6,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in WillScot in the first quarter valued at $194,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in WillScot during the first quarter valued at about $386,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in WillScot by 23.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 453,721 shares of the company's stock worth $7,877,000 after acquiring an additional 86,063 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in WillScot by 28.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 25,736 shares of the company's stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 5,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of WillScot by 85.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 538,176 shares of the company's stock worth $9,343,000 after purchasing an additional 248,572 shares during the period. 95.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WillScot Price Performance

WSC stock opened at $26.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.32. 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.89.

WillScot (NASDAQ:WSC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. WillScot had a positive return on equity of 20.65% and a negative net margin of 2.99%.The firm had revenue of $548.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $518.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. WillScot's revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that WillScot Holdings Corporation will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WillScot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.07 per share. 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of WillScot in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of WillScot from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of WillScot in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of WillScot from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $26.00 price objective on shares of WillScot in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $26.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at WillScot

In other news, Director Bradley Lee Soultz sold 86,421 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were 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 directly owned 197,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,333,089.05. This represents a 30.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 155,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,205,113 in the last ninety days. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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