Rollins (NYSE:ROL) Stock Price Down 5.3%

Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) shares fell 5.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $47.17 and last traded at $47.32. 974,673 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 1,768,601 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ROL. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Rollins in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Rollins from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Rollins in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rollins from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities 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, Rollins has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.60.

Rollins Stock Down 1.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $22.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.57, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $48.27 and a 200 day moving average of $45.80.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27. Rollins had a return on equity of 40.10% and a net margin of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $891.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $895.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Rollins, Inc. will post 1 earnings per share for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. Rollins’s payout ratio is currently 67.42%.

Insider Activity at Rollins

In other news, CFO Kenneth D. Krause sold 3,331 shares of Rollins stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.50, for a total value of $158,222.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 90,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,310,482.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Kenneth D. Krause sold 3,331 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.50, for a total value of $158,222.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 90,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,310,482.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jerry Jr. Gahlhoff sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.20, for a total transaction of $566,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 288,671 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,625,271.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ROL. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Rollins by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 240,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,507,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Rollins by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after buying an additional 6,571 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Rollins by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Rollins in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,617,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Rollins during the fourth quarter worth about $1,241,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

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.