StockNews.com Upgrades McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MGRC. CJS Securities began coverage on McGrath RentCorp in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $152.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on McGrath RentCorp from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

McGrath RentCorp Price Performance

Shares of MGRC stock opened at $118.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $116.78 and a 200-day moving average of $110.73. McGrath RentCorp has a one year low of $95.50 and a one year high of $130.86.

McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.48. McGrath RentCorp had a net margin of 25.29% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The firm had revenue of $266.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that McGrath RentCorp will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

McGrath RentCorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. McGrath RentCorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McGrath RentCorp news, VP Gilda Malek sold 919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.78, for a total transaction of $111,915.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Joseph F. Hanna sold 15,840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.88, for a total transaction of $1,898,899.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,630,430.92. This represents a 9.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,935 shares of company stock worth $5,605,327. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McGrath RentCorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of McGrath RentCorp by 68.2% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,247,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,324,000 after acquiring an additional 505,817 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in McGrath RentCorp by 57.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,111,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $119,456,000 after purchasing an additional 404,884 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in McGrath RentCorp by 6.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 755,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,546,000 after purchasing an additional 47,872 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of McGrath RentCorp by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 593,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,432,000 after purchasing an additional 12,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of McGrath RentCorp by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 578,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,890,000 after purchasing an additional 6,165 shares in the last quarter. 92.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

McGrath RentCorp Company Profile

McGrath RentCorp operates as a business to business rental company in the United States and internationally. It rents and sells relocatable modular buildings, portable storage containers, and electronic test equipment. The company operates through four segments: Mobile Modular, Portable Storage, TRS-RenTelco, and Enviroplex.