Rollins (NYSE:ROL) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Rollins (NYSE:ROL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

ROL has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Rollins from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on shares of Rollins in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Rollins from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Rollins from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Rollins in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rollins currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Rollins Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of ROL stock opened at $51.99 on Tuesday. Rollins has a 1-year low of $40.41 and a 1-year high of $52.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $25.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.16 and a beta of 0.76.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Rollins had a net margin of 14.18% and a return on equity of 38.67%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Rollins will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.75%.

Institutional Trading of Rollins

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Rollins by 9,005.6% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 833,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,651,000 after buying an additional 824,731 shares in the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter worth approximately $280,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position 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 worth $128,396,000 after buying an additional 2,203,859 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Rollins by 359.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 5,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in shares of Rollins by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 18,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 4,194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.79% 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.