Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 6,017 Shares of Republic Services, Inc. $RSG

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG) by 68.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,017 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Republic Services were worth $613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RSG. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Republic Services by 130.0% during the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 12,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,625,000 after buying an additional 7,001 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Republic Services by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 64,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,606,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Republic Services by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,984,000 after acquiring an additional 6,194 shares during the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Republic Services by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 344,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,017,000 after acquiring an additional 6,820 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Republic Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $617,165,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Republic Services

In other news, Director Sandra M. Volpe sold 1,800 shares of Republic Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.28, for a total transaction of $380,304.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,254.24. The trade was a 96.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Cascade Investment, L.L.C. bought 60,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $213.31 per share, for a total transaction of $12,947,917.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 110,803,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,635,597,400.42. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 987,150 shares of company stock worth $202,366,682 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Republic Services Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE RSG opened at $216.79 on Friday. Republic Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.41 and a twelve month high of $246.25. The stock has a market cap of $66.70 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Republic Services had a return on equity of 18.57% and a net margin of 13.00%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Republic Services, Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Republic Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Republic Services’s payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RSG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Republic Services from $242.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Republic Services from $265.00 to $267.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Republic Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on Republic Services from $247.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Republic Services from $240.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Republic Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.89.

Republic Services Profile

Republic Services, Inc is a leading provider of non-hazardous solid waste and recycling services in the United States. The company offers a broad range of waste management solutions to residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers, positioning itself as a full-service partner for everyday waste collection as well as specialized disposal needs.

Republic’s core operations include curbside and commercial collection, transfer and hauling, materials recovery and recycling facilities, and landfill disposal.