Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments Buys More Republic Services Shares

Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments LLC has acquired 205,300 shares of Republic Services Inc. (NYSE:RSG) in a single transaction for an average price of $36.68 apiece. Following the deal, Cascade owns 90.06 million shares of the company’s common stock, up from 89.86 million shares held previously.

Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE:RSG)

On June 12, Cascade Investment reported purchasing other 221,382 shares of Republic Services, which is engaged in providing services in the domestic non-hazardous solid waste industry. The company, which has a market cap of around $13.2 billion, offers reliable environmental services and solutions for commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers.

Recently, Republic Services appointed Robert A. Maruster as chief operating officer (COO) to manage the company’s expansive field operations, including 170 business units, according to a statement.

For the first quarter of 2014, Republic Services reported net income of $132.5 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, compared to $124.6 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, for the same period in 2013. The company’s’ net income for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, includes certain expenses and benefits that impacted its results. Revenue for the first quarter rose to about $2.1 billion from around $2.0 million for the first quarter of 2013. The increase of 3.8% was made up of increases in average yield of 1.2%, fuel recovery fees of 0.1%, volume of 1.5%, recycled commodities of 0.4% and acquisitions, net of divestitures of 0.6%, the company said.

On Wednesday, shares of Republic Services Inc. picked up 0.05% to $36.95. It has a 52-week low of $31.42 and a 52-week high of $37.25. For the company’s stocks, analysts have the consensus average target price of $38.44. The consensus average recommendation is ‘overweight.’

Among the largest shareholders of the company are Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, which owns 2.56 million shares, and D. E. Shaw, which holds around 2.20 million shares.

Disclosure: none