Fiera Capital Corp Purchases New Holdings in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 854,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,225,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Rollins by 8.0% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 28,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 2,118 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rollins by 4.5% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Rollins in the 1st quarter worth approximately $252,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Rollins in the first quarter worth $179,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rollins during the first quarter valued at $201,000. Institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ROL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Rollins from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Rollins in a research report on Monday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Rollins in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Rollins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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 on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.74, for a total transaction of $237,716.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,338 shares in the company, valued at $4,533,010.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.69% of the company’s stock.

Rollins Stock Performance

Shares of Rollins stock traded up $1.15 on Friday, hitting $50.19. 320,044 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,701,699. 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 has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a PE ratio of 52.31 and a beta of 0.70. Rollins, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.61 and a 1 year high of $51.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.39.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). 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 the consensus estimate of $911.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Rollins, Inc. will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 boost from Rollins’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.