First Trust Advisors LP Buys 575,242 Shares of Rollins, Inc. $ROL

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 156.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 943,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 575,242 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.19% of Rollins worth $55,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Rollins during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in Rollins by 58.4% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 730 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in Rollins in the second quarter worth about $42,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Rollins in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Rollins during the third quarter valued at about $47,000. 51.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Rollins Price Performance

Shares of ROL stock opened at $56.23 on Wednesday. Rollins, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.73 and a fifty-two week high of $66.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.58, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.24.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $912.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $925.08 million. Rollins had a net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 38.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rollins Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.1825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ROL shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Rollins from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Rollins and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Rollins in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Rollins in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $67.00 price target on shares of Rollins and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 2,396 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total transaction of $143,903.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,613.86. The trade was a 7.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman John F. Wilson sold 7,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.26, for a total value of $476,853.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 600,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,959,099.74. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 73,351 shares of company stock valued at $4,554,785. Corporate insiders own 4.47% of the company’s stock.

Rollins Company Profile

Rollins, Inc (NYSE: ROL) is a provider of pest and termite control services operating through a network of subsidiaries and franchises. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company offers a broad range of pest management solutions for both residential and commercial customers, positioning itself as a specialist in protecting property and public health from pests and vectors.

Its service offerings include general pest control, termite inspection and treatment, bed bug remediation, mosquito and vector control, wildlife exclusion, and related specialty services.