American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 17,009 Shares of Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R) by 1.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 890,877 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 17,009 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Ryder System were worth $110,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of R. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ryder System in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ryder System during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ryder System in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Ryder System by 44.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 589 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in Ryder System by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 643 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Ryder System from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ryder System from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ryder System in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Ryder System in a report on Monday, July 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ryder System from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ryder System presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.86.

Ryder System Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:R opened at $138.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.60. Ryder System, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.31 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61.

Ryder System (NYSE:R) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The transportation company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Ryder System had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 17.22%. Ryder System’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ryder System, Inc. will post 12.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryder System Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This is a positive change from Ryder System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Ryder System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ryder System

In related news, EVP Francisco Jr. Lopez sold 12,730 shares of Ryder System stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.32, for a total value of $1,773,543.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,656,570.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Ryder System

Ryder System, Inc operates as a logistics and transportation company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Fleet Management Solutions (FMS), Supply Chain Solutions (SCS), and Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS). The FMS segment offers full-service leasing and leasing with flexible maintenance options; commercial vehicle rental services; and contract or transactional maintenance services of trucks, tractors, and trailers; access to diesel fuel; and fuel planning and tax reporting, cards, and monitoring services, and centralized billing, as well as sells used vehicles through its retail sales centers and www.ryder.com/used-trucks website, as well as digital and technology support services.