Rentokil Initial (NYSE:RTO) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Rentokil Initial (NYSE:RTO) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on RTO. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Rentokil Initial from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised Rentokil Initial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Rentokil Initial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Rentokil Initial from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Rentokil Initial in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rentokil Initial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.50.

Rentokil Initial Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:RTO opened at $30.57 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Rentokil Initial has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $33.47.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RTO. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Rentokil Initial by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,463,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,558,000 after purchasing an additional 267,204 shares during the last quarter. Sunriver Management LLC grew its holdings in Rentokil Initial by 115.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sunriver Management LLC now owns 2,057,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,371,000 after buying an additional 1,102,353 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Rentokil Initial by 143.5% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,821,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,721,000 after buying an additional 1,073,471 shares in the last quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 1,733,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,067,000 after acquiring an additional 244,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QVIDTVM Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Rentokil Initial by 669.1% in the third quarter. QVIDTVM Management LLC now owns 1,704,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,865 shares during the last quarter. 9.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Rentokil Initial

Rentokil Initial PLC is a global business services company specializing in pest control, hygiene and workwear services. Headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom, the company delivers outsourced solutions designed to protect people, preserve assets and enhance workplaces for both commercial and residential customers.

Under the Rentokil Pest Control brand, the company offers services ranging from routine inspections and treatment of insects, rodents and birds to specialised programmes for food manufacturing and healthcare environments.