Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE:RBA) Shares Sold by Granite Investment Partners LLC

Granite Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE:RBA – Get Rating) (TSE:RBA) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,776 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 21,098 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC owned 0.20% of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers worth $12,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,064,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,652,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $274,617,000 after acquiring an additional 747,804 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers by 124.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,098,934 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,575,000 after buying an additional 609,934 shares during the last quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP increased its holdings in shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 2,148,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $134,251,000 after buying an additional 489,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,201,000. 81.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on RBA shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. National Bankshares raised shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Finally, OTR Global raised shares of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers to a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

In other news, Director Adam Dewitt purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $52.40 per share, for a total transaction of $104,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,800. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Robert George Elton acquired 1,471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $54.15 per share, with a total value of $79,654.65. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,471 shares in the company, valued at $79,654.65. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Adam Dewitt acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.40 per share, for a total transaction of $104,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,800. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 21,993 shares of company stock worth $1,185,754. 4.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Stock Performance

RBA traded down $1.09 on Friday, reaching $53.37. The company had a trading volume of 652,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,494,516. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated has a 1 year low of $48.72 and a 1 year high of $72.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.70 billion, a PE ratio of 55.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.27.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE:RBA – Get Rating) (TSE:RBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $443.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.21 million. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers had a net margin of 6.13% and a return on equity of 5.25%. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’s quarterly revenue was up 23.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 30th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 26th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’s dividend payout ratio is presently 110.20%.

About Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

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Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Inc is an industrial auctioneer, which engages in the sale of equipment to on-site and online bidders. It operates through the following segments: Auctions and Marketplaces, Ritchie Bros. Financial Services and Mascus. The Auctions and Marketplaces segment consists of live on site auctions, online auctions and marketplaces, and brokerage service.