Rollins (NYSE:ROL) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Rollins (NYSE:ROL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ROL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Rollins in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Rollins from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Rollins from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Rollins from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Rollins from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.00.

Rollins Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Rollins stock opened at $51.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.91 billion, a PE ratio of 53.59 and a beta of 0.78. Rollins has a 52-week low of $41.72 and a 52-week high of $53.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.42.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Rollins had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 37.94%. On average, analysts anticipate that Rollins will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rollins Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Rollins’s payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rollins news, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 1,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total value of $99,469.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,173 shares in the company, valued at $2,131,937.94. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elizabeth B. Chandler sold 13,193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $675,217.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 76,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,916,600.68. The trade was a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,338 shares of company stock worth $945,882 over the last three months. 4.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rollins

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter worth $176,784,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Rollins by 389.2% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,770,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $128,396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,203,859 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter worth $81,747,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter worth $74,249,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Rollins by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,557,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $395,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,508 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

About Rollins

Rollins, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides pest and wildlife control services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and internationally. The company offers pest control services to residential properties protecting from common pests, including rodents, insects, and wildlife.