Rollins (NYSE:ROL) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Rollins (NYSE:ROL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $65.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $55.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ROL. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $61.00 target price on shares of Rollins and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Rollins from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Rollins from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Rollins from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Rollins from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.75.

Rollins Stock Up 2.3%

ROL stock opened at $58.58 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $55.48 and a 200 day moving average of $51.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.39 billion, a PE ratio of 61.02 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Rollins has a 52 week low of $45.34 and a 52 week high of $58.62.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The company had revenue of $822.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $817.09 million. Rollins had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 37.94%. Rollins’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Rollins will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Rollins’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rollins

In related news, Chairman John F. Wilson sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.77, for a total value of $2,270,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 662,727 shares in the company, valued at $37,623,011.79. The trade was a 5.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 1,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.81, for a total transaction of $101,448.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,388.40. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,763 shares of company stock worth $2,580,331. Company insiders own 4.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rollins

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Rollins in the 4th quarter valued at $176,784,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Rollins by 389.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,770,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $128,396,000 after purchasing an additional 2,203,859 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Rollins in the 4th quarter valued at $81,747,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Rollins during the fourth quarter worth $74,249,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Rollins by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,557,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $395,819,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,508 shares during the period. 51.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.