State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 300 Shares of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its holdings in Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,287 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Republic Services were worth $11,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Republic Services by 23.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,004,199 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,205,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131,850 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Republic Services by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,507,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $903,316,000 after purchasing an additional 73,207 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Republic Services by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,129,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $626,553,000 after purchasing an additional 509,116 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Republic Services by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,546,088 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $509,462,000 after purchasing an additional 25,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Republic Services by 437.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,814,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $364,449,000 after buying an additional 1,477,255 shares in the last quarter. 57.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RSG has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Republic Services from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Republic Services from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $219.00 to $237.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Argus set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Republic Services in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Republic Services from $239.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up previously from $244.00) on shares of Republic Services in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.88.

Republic Services Price Performance

Shares of RSG stock opened at $235.66 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $217.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.58. Republic Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $180.91 and a 52-week high of $240.95.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.08 billion. Republic Services had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 18.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Republic Services, Inc. will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Republic Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Republic Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.75%.

Insider Activity at Republic Services

In other Republic Services news, COO Gregg Brummer sold 6,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.20, for a total transaction of $1,436,062.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,931.20. This trade represents a 37.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Republic Services Company Profile

Republic Services, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, offers environmental services in the United States and Canada. It is involved in the collection and processing of recyclable, solid waste, and industrial waste materials; transportation and disposal of non-hazardous and hazardous waste streams; and other environmental solutions.