McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 on January 31st

McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th.

McGrath RentCorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. McGrath RentCorp has a dividend payout ratio of 31.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect McGrath RentCorp to earn $6.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.

McGrath RentCorp Stock Performance

Shares of MGRC opened at $118.64 on Friday. McGrath RentCorp has a fifty-two week low of $95.50 and a fifty-two week high of $130.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.50. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.75.

McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $266.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.76 million. McGrath RentCorp had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 25.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that McGrath RentCorp will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at McGrath RentCorp

In other news, CEO Joseph F. Hanna sold 15,840 shares of McGrath RentCorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.88, for a total transaction of $1,898,899.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,630,430.92. This trade represents a 9.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William J. Dawson sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total value of $2,300,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,000. This represents a 83.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,935 shares of company stock worth $5,605,327 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MGRC has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of McGrath RentCorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. CJS Securities started coverage on shares of McGrath RentCorp in a report on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $152.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of McGrath RentCorp from $124.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

About McGrath RentCorp

McGrath RentCorp operates as a business to business rental company in the United States and internationally. It rents and sells relocatable modular buildings, portable storage containers, and electronic test equipment. The company operates through four segments: Mobile Modular, Portable Storage, TRS-RenTelco, and Enviroplex.