Rentokil Initial (NYSE:RTO) Shares Gap Down to $28.25

Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $28.25, but opened at $26.00. Rentokil Initial shares last traded at $26.46, with a volume of 334,861 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RTO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America cut Rentokil Initial from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $40.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Rentokil Initial from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th.

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.61.

Rentokil Initial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.3784 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This is a boost from Rentokil Initial's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.18.

Institutional Trading of Rentokil Initial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gates Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Gates Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,155,193 shares of the company's stock worth $147,490,000 after purchasing an additional 528,409 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,884,020 shares of the company's stock worth $111,122,000 after purchasing an additional 81,134 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in shares of Rentokil Initial during the fourth quarter worth $87,191,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Rentokil Initial in the fourth quarter valued at about $77,547,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in Rentokil Initial by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,025,479 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,949,000 after acquiring an additional 246,253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.91% of the company's stock.

About Rentokil Initial

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.