Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 7,762 Shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL - Free Report) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 392,543 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,762 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Rollins worth $21,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ROL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $176,784,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake 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 valued at $128,396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,203,859 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,747,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $395,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,508 shares during the period. Finally, BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,161,000. Institutional investors own 51.79% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $65.00 price objective (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Rollins in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Rollins from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Rollins in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Rollins from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Rollins from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman John F. Wilson sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.77, for a total transaction of $2,270,800.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 662,727 shares in the company, valued at $37,623,011.79. The trade was a 5.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 1,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.54, for a total transaction of $108,613.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,028 shares in the company, valued at $2,150,103.12. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Rollins Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE ROL traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.22. 1,427,732 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,762,290. Rollins, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.34 and a 12 month high of $58.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.78 and a beta of 0.75.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Rollins had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 37.31%. The firm had revenue of $822.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $817.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Rollins's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Rollins Profile

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.