United Rentals (NYSE:URI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Rentals (NYSE:URI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

URI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of United Rentals from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $1,320.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $903.00 price objective on shares of United Rentals and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of United Rentals from $1,421.00 to $1,466.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $1,350.00 target price on shares of United Rentals in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on United Rentals from $1,270.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,226.50.

United Rentals Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:URI opened at $1,126.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,056.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $920.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.76. United Rentals has a 52 week low of $701.59 and a 52 week high of $1,177.67.

United Rentals (NYSE:URI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The construction company reported $12.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.53 by $1.23. The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.22 billion. United Rentals had a net margin of 15.67% and a return on equity of 31.72%. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that United Rentals will post 47.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Rentals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a $1.97 dividend. This represents a $7.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. United Rentals’s payout ratio is presently 18.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in United Rentals during the fourth quarter valued at about $978,017,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of United Rentals by 1,667.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 343,965 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $278,378,000 after purchasing an additional 324,503 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of United Rentals by 3,459.3% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 196,688 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,184,000 after purchasing an additional 191,162 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of United Rentals during the 4th quarter worth about $102,945,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in United Rentals by 103.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 231,018 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $186,967,000 after purchasing an additional 117,584 shares during the period. 96.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About United Rentals

United Rentals, Inc (NYSE: URI) is a leading equipment rental company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm provides rental solutions and related services to construction, industrial, commercial, and municipal customers. Its business model centers on providing access to a broad fleet of equipment on a short-term or long-term basis, enabling customers to avoid the capital expenditure of ownership and to scale equipment use to match project needs.

The company’s product and service offerings span general construction equipment and a range of specialty categories, including aerial work platforms, earthmoving and excavation machines, material handling equipment, pumps, power and HVAC systems, trench and shoring solutions, and tools.