Bank of Montreal Can Purchases 514,672 Shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL) by 222.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 745,955 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 514,672 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Rollins were worth $34,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ROL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Rollins during the 4th quarter worth about $176,784,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Rollins during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,249,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Rollins by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,557,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $395,819,000 after buying an additional 1,282,508 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Rollins by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,023,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $93,778,000 after buying an additional 493,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Rollins by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,000,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,046,000 after buying an additional 490,183 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Rollins from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Rollins from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Rollins from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Rollins in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Rollins from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Thomas D. Tesh sold 1,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total transaction of $99,469.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 41,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,131,937.94. This trade represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Traci Hornfeck sold 3,224 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.10, for a total transaction of $171,194.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $509,866.20. The trade was a 25.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,338 shares of company stock valued at $945,882 over the last quarter. 4.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Rollins Stock Performance

Shares of Rollins stock opened at $54.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.32 and a beta of 0.80. Rollins, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.72 and a 52 week high of $56.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.77.

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23. Rollins had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 37.94%. Sell-side analysts expect that Rollins, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Rollins Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Rollins’s payout ratio is 68.75%.

Rollins 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.