Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Cuts Stake in Rollins, Inc. $ROL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its stake in shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,321,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 61,513 shares during the quarter. Rollins comprises approximately 0.7% of Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.27% of Rollins worth $70,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Rollins during the 4th quarter valued at about $244,669,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Rollins by 188.2% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,908,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $155,335,000 after buying an additional 1,899,515 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Rollins by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,282,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,297,717,000 after buying an additional 1,562,241 shares during the last quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Rollins by 55.9% in the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,131,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $167,260,000 after buying an additional 1,123,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Rollins by 11,772.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,084,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $65,086,000 after buying an additional 1,075,264 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ROL. Barclays set a $45.00 price target on shares of Rollins and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of Rollins in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Rollins from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $52.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Rollins from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $45.00 price target on Rollins in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rollins currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.71.

Rollins Stock Performance

Shares of ROL stock opened at $38.59 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.76. Rollins, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.59 and a 52 week high of $66.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a PE ratio of 35.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.02). Rollins had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 38.81%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Rollins Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.1825 per share. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.97%.

More Rollins News

Here are the key news stories impacting Rollins this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management said termite and ancillary services continued to post solid growth, and lead volumes improved toward late June and early July, which could support a recovery in coming quarters.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts still see upside from current levels despite trimming targets, including Piper Sandler maintaining an overweight rating and BNP Paribas Exane keeping a neutral view with a higher target than the stock’s recent trading level.
• Neutral Sentiment: Rollins has been described as balancing solid Q2 growth with a softer outlook, suggesting the quarter was mixed rather than uniformly negative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing media coverage around the earnings call and transcript is reinforcing investor focus on management’s commentary about demand trends and margin performance.
• Negative Sentiment: Rollins reported Q2 earnings of $0.32 per share, below the consensus estimate of $0.34, and revenue of about $1.08 billion also came in slightly short of expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts turned more cautious after the report, with JPMorgan reaffirming an underweight rating and sharply lowering its price target, while Bank of America also cut its target and kept a neutral stance.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around slower residential demand and a “downbeat” earnings release has added to the selloff, as the market appears to be recalibrating expectations after a period of high optimism.

Rollins Profile

Rollins, Inc (NYSE: ROL) is a provider of pest and termite control services operating through a network of subsidiaries and franchises. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company offers a broad range of pest management solutions for both residential and commercial customers, positioning itself as a specialist in protecting property and public health from pests and vectors.

Its service offerings include general pest control, termite inspection and treatment, bed bug remediation, mosquito and vector control, wildlife exclusion, and related specialty services.