13,387 Shares in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) Bought by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 13,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Rollins by 185.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 384,935 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,781,000 after purchasing an additional 249,860 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Rollins by 4,697.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 324,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,997,000 after acquiring an additional 317,353 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rollins during the second quarter worth approximately $13,580,000. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of Rollins by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 142,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,593,000 after acquiring an additional 27,301 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Rollins by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,236,421 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,325,000 after purchasing an additional 43,144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Barclays assumed coverage on Rollins in a research report on Monday, November 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Rollins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rollins news, major shareholder Timothy Curtis Rollins sold 14,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.88, for a total transaction of $735,730.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 124,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,195,794.32. The trade was a 10.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Elizabeth B. Chandler sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.49, for a total value of $236,545.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 84,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,274,129.97. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,120 shares of company stock worth $1,209,993. 4.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Rollins Stock Performance

NYSE ROL opened at $50.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.74 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.83. Rollins, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.62 and a 12-month high of $52.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $916.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $911.15 million. Rollins had a return on equity of 38.67% and a net margin of 14.18%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Research analysts expect that Rollins, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. This is an increase from Rollins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Rollins’s payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

Rollins Company Profile

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.