Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) Announces Semi-annual Dividend of $0.20

Rentokil Initial plc (NYSE:RTO) declared a semi-annual dividend on Friday, July 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.2034 per share on Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th.

Rentokil Initial has a dividend payout ratio of 44.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Rentokil Initial to earn $1.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.75 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.1%.

Rentokil Initial Price Performance

NYSE:RTO traded up $0.24 on Friday, reaching $30.75. 631,442 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 654,457. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.13. Rentokil Initial has a 12 month low of $23.39 and a 12 month high of $41.55.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RTO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised Rentokil Initial from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Rentokil Initial in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Rentokil Initial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rentokil Initial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.00.

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.