State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Sells 2,000 Shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury cut its position in shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Rollins were worth $1,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Rollins by 17.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,282,508 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Rollins by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,267,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $197,778,000 after buying an additional 617,876 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Rollins in the 4th quarter valued at about $176,784,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Rollins by 389.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,770,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $128,396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,203,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Rollins by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,519,333 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $116,774,000 after acquiring an additional 260,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ROL. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $61.00 target price on Rollins and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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 target on shares of Rollins from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Rollins from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Rollins from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rollins presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.57.

Rollins Stock Performance

Rollins stock opened at $56.32 on Wednesday. Rollins, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.29 and a fifty-two week high of $56.54. The company has a market capitalization of $27.32 billion, a PE ratio of 58.67 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

Rollins Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Traci Hornfeck sold 3,224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.10, for a total transaction of $171,194.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $509,866.20. This trade represents a 25.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Elizabeth B. Chandler sold 13,193 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.18, for a total transaction of $675,217.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 76,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,916,600.68. This represents a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,259 shares of company stock worth $1,047,330. 4.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.