Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Increases Holdings in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 4.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Rollins were worth $742,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROL. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Rollins in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Rollins in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Rollins by 43.9% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 774 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Rollins by 10,233.3% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Rollins in the third quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Rollins Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ROL opened at $49.63 on Friday. Rollins, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.62 and a 12 month high of $52.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $24.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.70 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.53 and a 200 day moving average of $48.80.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). Rollins had a return on equity of 38.67% and a net margin of 14.18%. The business had revenue of $916.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $911.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Rollins, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rollins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Rollins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Rollins news, insider Elizabeth B. Chandler sold 4,685 shares of Rollins stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.49, for a total transaction of $236,545.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 84,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,274,129.97. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Timothy Curtis Rollins sold 14,750 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 124,214 shares in the company, valued at $6,195,794.32. This trade represents a 10.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,120 shares of company stock worth $1,209,993. Insiders own 4.69% of the company’s stock.

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.