Rollins to pay $8M penalty for earnings accounting violations (NYSE:ROL)

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) agreed to pay $8M to settle charges that it inflated its quarterly earnings reports to meet research analysts’ consensus estimates, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday.

According to the SEC’s order, during Q1 2016 and Q2 2017, the pest control company made unsupported reductions to its accounting reserves in amounts sufficient to allow it to round up reported earnings per share to the next penny.

Rollins’ (ROL) CFO at the time, Paul Northen, will pay $100K for his role in the accounting violations; neither the company nor the former CFO admitted wrongdoing.

Rollins (ROL) likely will continue its strong financial performance for the foreseeable future, but shares “are just too pricey to make for a great purchase presently,” Daniel Jones writes in an analysis posted last month on Seeking Alpha.