Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 302 Shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Rollins were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Rollins by 7.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 46,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 3,366 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Rollins by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 197,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,996,000 after buying an additional 2,356 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in Rollins by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 18,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 1,179 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Rollins by 3.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 147,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,439,000 after buying an additional 5,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Rollins by 40.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 553,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,014,000 after acquiring an additional 159,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ROL. StockNews.com lowered shares of Rollins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Rollins in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Rollins from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Rollins in a research note on Monday, November 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rollins

In other news, insider Elizabeth B. Chandler sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.49, for a total transaction of $236,545.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 84,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,274,129.97. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 4.69% of the company’s stock.

Rollins Price Performance

Shares of Rollins stock opened at $49.91 on Monday. Rollins, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.03 and a twelve month high of $52.16. 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 firm has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.99 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.70.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $911.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $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, research analysts expect that Rollins, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rollins Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is a positive change from Rollins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

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.