11,233 Shares in Rollins, Inc. $ROL Acquired by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $660,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ROL. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Rollins by 16.2% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 128,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,224,000 after purchasing an additional 17,845 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Rollins by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 21,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Rollins by 11.0% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 158,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,958,000 after purchasing an additional 15,699 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Rollins by 78.0% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,282,659 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $128,788,000 after buying an additional 1,000,185 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Rollins during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,924,000. 51.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Rollins Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ROL stock opened at $60.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.84 and a 200-day moving average of $57.87. Rollins, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.77 and a 12 month high of $61.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $29.41 billion, a PE ratio of 56.72 and a beta of 0.79.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Rollins had a net margin of 14.02% and a return on equity of 37.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.1825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This is a positive change from Rollins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Rollins’s payout ratio is presently 68.22%.

Insider Activity at Rollins

In other Rollins news, Chairman John F. Wilson sold 1,520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.40, for a total transaction of $90,288.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 607,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,090,667.80. This represents a 0.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 2,396 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $143,113.08. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,889,080.71. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,311 shares of company stock valued at $371,760 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ROL shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Rollins and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Rollins from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Rollins in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Barclays raised Rollins from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Rollins in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.92.

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.