Insider Selling: Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) Major Shareholder Sells 14,750 Shares of Stock

Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) major shareholder Timothy Curtis Rollins sold 14,750 shares of Rollins stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total value of $735,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 124,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,195,794.32. This trade represents a 10.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Rollins Stock Performance

NYSE ROL opened at $49.44 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.79. Rollins, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.62 and a 12-month high of $52.16. The firm has a market cap of $23.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.50 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $916.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $911.15 million. Rollins had a net margin of 14.18% and a return on equity of 38.67%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Rollins, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is a positive change from Rollins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rollins

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Rollins during the first quarter valued at about $252,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Rollins during the 1st quarter valued at about $201,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Rollins by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,438,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,500,927,000 after purchasing an additional 206,873 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Rollins by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Rollins by 501.9% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 23,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,087,000 after buying an additional 19,596 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ROL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Rollins in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Rollins in a report on Monday, November 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Rollins from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Rollins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rollins has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.83.

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.