Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $295.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $265.00.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on RSG. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Republic Services from $220.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Republic Services from $259.00 to $281.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Raymond James Financial set a $235.00 target price on shares of Republic Services in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Republic Services from $242.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Republic Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.10.

Republic Services Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE RSG opened at $252.73 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Republic Services has a twelve month low of $196.41 and a twelve month high of $255.39. The company has a market cap of $76.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $227.62 and its 200 day moving average is $218.52.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.42 billion. Republic Services had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 12.93%. Republic Services’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Republic Services will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Republic Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 4th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 4th. Republic Services’s payout ratio is 37.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Cascade Investment, L.L.C. acquired 324,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $222.89 per share, for a total transaction of $72,396,900.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 117,058,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,091,156,583.16. The trade was a 0.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Brian Bales sold 3,400 shares of Republic Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.00, for a total value of $829,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 17,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,298,304. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders bought 5,240,588 shares of company stock valued at $1,161,649,826. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Republic Services

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RSG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Republic Services in the second quarter valued at $3,798,092,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Republic Services by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,953,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,120,893,000 after acquiring an additional 160,051 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Republic Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $682,573,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Republic Services by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,814,825 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $590,761,000 after acquiring an additional 345,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Republic Services by 68.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,256,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $497,828,000 after acquiring an additional 913,249 shares in the last quarter. 57.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Republic Services

Republic Services, Inc. provides waste collection, recycling and environmental services to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers across the United States. Its services include collecting and transporting waste, operating transfer stations and landfills, and processing recyclable materials. The company also provides environmental solutions, including services for the management and disposal of hazardous and other specialized waste. Republic Services traces its origins to the 1990s and expanded its operations through the 2008 combination with Allied Waste Industries.