Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) Hits New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Rentokil Initial plc (LON:RTO) shares hit a new 52-week low on Friday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on the stock from GBX 485 to GBX 465. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. Rentokil Initial traded as low as GBX 328.10 ($4.23) and last traded at GBX 339.18 ($4.37), with a volume of 16331947 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 346.20 ($4.46).

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Rentokil Initial from GBX 440 ($5.67) to GBX 430 ($5.54) and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian Baldwin bought 7,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 413 ($5.32) per share, with a total value of £30,975,000 ($39,916,237.11). Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Rentokil Initial Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 113.35, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of £8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 394.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 407.10.

Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported GBX 21.25 ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Rentokil Initial had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 7.25%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Rentokil Initial plc will post 25.8725561 EPS for the current year.

Rentokil Initial Company 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.