Baird Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,232,157 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 119,526 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.25% of Rollins worth $57,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Rollins by 34.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 721,467 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $36,491,000 after acquiring an additional 186,452 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Rollins in the 3rd quarter valued at $388,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Rollins by 9.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,005 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $810,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Rollins by 54.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 173,943 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,725,000 after buying an additional 61,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Rollins by 3.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 399,398 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $20,202,000 after buying an additional 13,697 shares during the period. 51.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ROL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Rollins from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Rollins from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $61.00 target price on shares of Rollins and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rollins from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.57.

Insider Transactions at Rollins

In related news, insider Elizabeth B. Chandler sold 13,193 shares of Rollins stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 76,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,916,600.68. This trade represents a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 1,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.81, for a total value of $101,448.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,093,388.40. This represents a 4.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,259 shares of company stock worth $1,047,330 in the last quarter. 4.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Rollins Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Rollins stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,321,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,714,324. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $53.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.67. The company has a market capitalization of $27.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.06 and a beta of 0.79. Rollins, Inc. has a one year low of $45.00 and a one year high of $57.43.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Rollins had a return on equity of 37.94% and a net margin of 13.76%. The firm had revenue of $822.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $817.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Rollins's dividend payout ratio is 66.67%.

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.