Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Rollins, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with seven firms giving buy recommendations and five suggesting a hold.
• JPMorgan issued an "overweight" rating for Rollins with a price target of $70.00, while Barclays increased their target from $55.00 to $60.00.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, reflecting an annualized payout of $0.66 and a yield of 1.1%.

Shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.1818.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ROL. Zacks Research cut Rollins from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Rollins from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Rollins in a research report on Friday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $65.00 price objective (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Rollins in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Argus assumed coverage on Rollins in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $68.00 target price for the company.

Insider Activity at Rollins

In other news, Chairman John F. Wilson sold 30,000 shares of Rollins stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $1,741,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 632,727 shares in the company, valued at $36,723,475.08. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Rollins in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Rollins in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Rollins by 961.4% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 605 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rollins by 58.4% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 730 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in shares of Rollins in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. 51.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Rollins Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of Rollins stock opened at $58.45 on Friday. Rollins has a 12-month low of $45.34 and a 12-month high of $59.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.87 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.01. Rollins had a net margin of 13.70% and a return on equity of 36.96%. The company had revenue of $999.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $988.77 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. Rollins's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Rollins will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rollins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Rollins's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.35%.

Rollins Company 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.

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