Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.10 EPS

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. Republic Services had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $3.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Republic Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RSG traded down $1.71 on Tuesday, hitting $191.70. The company had a trading volume of 2,046,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,223,430. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.62 and a 200 day moving average of $171.16. Republic Services has a 52-week low of $140.07 and a 52-week high of $196.76. The company has a market cap of $60.38 billion, a PE ratio of 35.12, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Republic Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.535 per share. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. Republic Services’s payout ratio is 39.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Republic Services

In other news, CEO Ark Jon Vander sold 5,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.10, for a total transaction of $1,002,608.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,669,303.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RSG shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of Republic Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Republic Services from $182.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Republic Services from $173.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered Republic Services from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $199.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Republic Services from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.77.

About Republic Services

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.