London, January 6, 2026, 10:25 GMT — Regular session
- Rentokil Initial shares rose about 2% after a Morgan Stanley upgrade to Overweight and a higher price target.
- The stock pushed back above the 450p level, with the day’s range topping 457p in early trade.
- Focus shifts to Rentokil’s March 5 preliminary results as the next major catalyst.
Rentokil Initial (RTO.L) shares rose about 2% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the British pest-control group and lifted its price target. The stock was up 2.0% at 454.1 pence by 1025 GMT. 1
The call matters because Rentokil’s valuation and near-term sentiment have been tightly linked to confidence that operational momentum is improving, especially in North America. An upgrade from a major broker can pull in incremental buyers on a quiet news day and tighten the focus on the next results update.
It also lands early in the year, when portfolio managers and analysts refresh “best ideas” lists and reset positioning. That can amplify moves in large-cap UK names where flows can drive price action as much as fundamentals.
Morgan Stanley analyst Annelies Vermeulen upgraded Rentokil to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the price target to 520 pence from 450 pence, TipRanks reported, describing the shift as part of the bank’s 2026 outlook for European business services. In plain terms, “Overweight” signals a call to hold more of the stock than a benchmark allocation, while “Equal Weight” suggests performance broadly in line with peers. 2
At Morgan Stanley’s new target, the stock implies roughly 14.5% upside from Tuesday’s level, based on the 520p target and the shares around 454p in early trade.
Shares traded between 449.0 pence and 457.3 pence on the day, after closing at 445.1 pence in the previous session, according to Investing.com data. 3
Technicians will also note the move keeps Rentokil within reach of its 52-week high of 480 pence, set in October, after the stock reclaimed the 450p handle in early dealings. 4
The risk is that the upgrade front-runs proof. Any disappointment on organic growth or margin delivery — the two metrics investors use to judge whether a service business is expanding profitably — would likely put the recent gains at risk, particularly with the shares already trading close to last year’s highs.
