WillScot Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:WSC)

WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 13,338 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 514% compared to the average volume of 2,171 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on WSC. Citigroup dropped their price objective on WillScot from $30.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays increased their price target on WillScot from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of WillScot from $29.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of WillScot in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of WillScot from $28.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in WillScot by 390.6% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 129,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,740,000 after acquiring an additional 103,178 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of WillScot by 494.6% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 56,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 47,344 shares during the period. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of WillScot in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,063,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in WillScot by 27.3% in the first quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,870,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in WillScot in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,453,000. 95.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WillScot Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of WillScot stock opened at $19.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.87. WillScot has a 12-month low of $14.91 and a 12-month high of $29.77. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80.

WillScot (NASDAQ:WSC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $612.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $585.43 million. WillScot had a positive return on equity of 21.62% and a negative net margin of 3.00%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WillScot will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WillScot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. WillScot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -73.68%.

WillScot Company Profile

WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: WSC) provides flexible workspace and storage solutions primarily to customers across North America. The company offers modular buildings, mobile offices, portable classrooms, storage units and other temporary or permanent space solutions for businesses, schools, construction sites, health care organizations, government agencies and other institutions.

In addition to renting and selling modular space and portable storage products, WillScot provides related services such as delivery, installation, relocation, site improvements, furnishings and facility services.