Rollins’ (ROL) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Rollins (NYSE:ROL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $52.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 13.81% from the stock’s previous close.

ROL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Rollins from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rollins from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Rollins from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Rollins in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.83.

Rollins Price Performance

NYSE:ROL opened at $45.69 on Monday. Rollins has a 52-week low of $40.41 and a 52-week high of $52.16. The company has a market cap of $22.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.59 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.11.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.01). Rollins had a net margin of 14.18% and a return on equity of 38.67%. The company had revenue of $916.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $911.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Rollins will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Timothy Curtis Rollins sold 14,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $735,730.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 124,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,195,794.32. This trade represents a 10.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ROL. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Rollins in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,428,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Rollins by 54.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 173,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,725,000 after acquiring an additional 61,475 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of Rollins during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,102,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rollins by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 661,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,484,000 after purchasing an additional 79,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Rollins by 22.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,280,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,323,000 after purchasing an additional 420,399 shares during the period. 51.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.