First Trust Advisors LP Buys 248,572 Shares of WillScot Holdings Corporation $WSC

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in WillScot Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:WSC) by 85.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 538,176 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 248,572 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in WillScot were worth $9,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WSC. Xponance LLC grew its stake in WillScot by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 14,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in WillScot by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in WillScot by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 41,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its stake in WillScot by 117.3% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in WillScot by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 185,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,092,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the period. 95.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WSC. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of WillScot from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of WillScot in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of WillScot in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded WillScot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $26.00 target price on WillScot in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WillScot news, Director Bradley Lee Soultz sold 4,317 shares of WillScot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total transaction of $111,896.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 414,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,732,409.28. The trade was a 1.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 155,781 shares of company stock worth $4,205,113 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

WillScot Price Performance

WSC stock opened at $24.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.00, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.72. WillScot Holdings Corporation has a one year low of $14.91 and a one year high of $30.05. The stock has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of -63.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.03.

WillScot (NASDAQ:WSC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $548.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $518.17 million. WillScot had a negative net margin of 2.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. On average, analysts predict that WillScot Holdings Corporation will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WillScot Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. WillScot’s dividend payout ratio is currently -73.68%.

WillScot Company Profile

WillScot (NASDAQ: WSC) is a leading North American provider of modular space and portable storage solutions. The company designs, manufactures, leases and sells temporary and permanent modular buildings to serve sectors such as education, healthcare, construction, industrial and government. Its modular space offerings range from single‐unit office trailers and classrooms to complex multi‐unit configurations tailored to diverse project requirements.

In addition to modular structures, WillScot offers a broad portfolio of portable storage containers and related services, including site logistics, customization, delivery and installation.