Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Position in Rollins, Inc. $ROL

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,858,888 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 94,116 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Rollins were worth $152,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Rollins by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,282,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,297,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,241 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Rollins by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,850,361 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $771,279,000 after buying an additional 575,946 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Rollins by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,163,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $608,256,000 after purchasing an additional 626,866 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Rollins by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,089,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $365,473,000 after buying an additional 461,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Rollins in the 4th quarter valued at about $244,669,000. 51.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Rollins Price Performance

ROL opened at $38.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Rollins, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.59 and a 1 year high of $66.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.72. The firm has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.08, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.75.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Rollins had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 38.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a $0.1825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Rollins’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ROL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of Rollins from $63.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down from $55.00) on shares of Rollins in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Rollins in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Rollins from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Rollins from $72.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.71.

Rollins News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Rollins this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management said termite and ancillary services continued to post solid growth, and lead volumes improved toward late June and early July, which could support a recovery in coming quarters.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts still see upside from current levels despite trimming targets, including Piper Sandler maintaining an overweight rating and BNP Paribas Exane keeping a neutral view with a higher target than the stock’s recent trading level.
• Neutral Sentiment: Rollins has been described as balancing solid Q2 growth with a softer outlook, suggesting the quarter was mixed rather than uniformly negative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing media coverage around the earnings call and transcript is reinforcing investor focus on management’s commentary about demand trends and margin performance.
• Negative Sentiment: Rollins reported Q2 earnings of $0.32 per share, below the consensus estimate of $0.34, and revenue of about $1.08 billion also came in slightly short of expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts turned more cautious after the report, with JPMorgan reaffirming an underweight rating and sharply lowering its price target, while Bank of America also cut its target and kept a neutral stance.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around slower residential demand and a “downbeat” earnings release has added to the selloff, as the market appears to be recalibrating expectations after a period of high optimism.

About Rollins

Rollins, Inc (NYSE: ROL) is a provider of pest and termite control services operating through a network of subsidiaries and franchises. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the company offers a broad range of pest management solutions for both residential and commercial customers, positioning itself as a specialist in protecting property and public health from pests and vectors.

Its service offerings include general pest control, termite inspection and treatment, bed bug remediation, mosquito and vector control, wildlife exclusion, and related specialty services.