United Rentals, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.63 (NYSE:URI)

United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 1.63 per share by the construction company on Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th.

United Rentals has a dividend payout ratio of 13.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect United Rentals to earn $47.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

United Rentals Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE URI opened at $666.66 on Monday. United Rentals has a 12 month low of $325.15 and a 12 month high of $732.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $683.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $588.62. The stock has a market cap of $44.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.82.

United Rentals (NYSE:URI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $9.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.35 by $0.80. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.44 billion. United Rentals had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 36.44%. United Rentals’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that United Rentals will post 43.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at United Rentals

In other news, COO Michael D. Durand sold 559 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $674.56, for a total value of $377,079.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,431,557.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Michael D. Durand sold 559 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $674.56, for a total transaction of $377,079.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,052 shares in the company, valued at $5,431,557.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO William E. Grace sold 775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $655.62, for a total value of $508,105.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,323 shares in the company, valued at $4,145,485.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,713 shares of company stock valued at $6,747,384 over the last quarter. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

United Rentals declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to repurchase up to 3.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on URI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on United Rentals from $322.00 to $559.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on United Rentals from $575.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of United Rentals from $325.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of United Rentals from $630.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of United Rentals from $720.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $600.79.

About United Rentals

United Rentals, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals and Specialty. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment includes backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools for construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities.