Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Boosts Holdings in Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) by 21.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 337,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,530 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 0.94% of Landstar System worth $65,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Landstar System by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 15,707 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,779,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Landstar System by 0.9% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 9,448 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,672,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Landstar System by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 616 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Landstar System by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Landstar System by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,670 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,679,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 97.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Landstar System from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James assumed coverage on Landstar System in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Landstar System in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Landstar System from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Landstar System from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Landstar System currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $182.55.

Landstar System Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LSTR traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $184.12. 15,134 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 266,683. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.22 and a beta of 0.80. Landstar System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.13 and a 1 year high of $208.62.

Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.04. Landstar System had a return on equity of 23.11% and a net margin of 4.63%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Landstar System, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Landstar System Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. Landstar System’s payout ratio is 20.31%.

Landstar System Profile

Landstar System, Inc provides integrated transportation management solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Transportation Logistics and Insurance. The Transportation Logistics segment offers a range of transportation services, including truckload and less-than-truckload transportation, rail intermodal, air cargo, ocean cargo, expedited ground and air delivery of time-critical freight, heavy-haul/specialized, U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico cross-border, intra-Mexico, intra-Canada, project cargo, and customs brokerage, as well as offers transportation services to other transportation companies, such as third party logistics and less-than-truckload services.