Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.26 on December 18th

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 4th.

Old Dominion Freight Line has raised its dividend by an average of 38.4% per year over the last three years. Old Dominion Freight Line has a dividend payout ratio of 17.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Old Dominion Freight Line to earn $5.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.5%.

Old Dominion Freight Line Price Performance

Old Dominion Freight Line stock opened at $225.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $48.07 billion, a PE ratio of 39.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $206.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.92. Old Dominion Freight Line has a one year low of $165.49 and a one year high of $233.26.

Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Old Dominion Freight Line had a return on equity of 29.40% and a net margin of 21.03%. Old Dominion Freight Line’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Old Dominion Freight Line will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Leo H. Suggs sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.44, for a total transaction of $676,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,383 shares in the company, valued at $1,664,423.52. This represents a 28.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg C. Gantt sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.07, for a total value of $1,400,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 97,890 shares in the company, valued at $19,584,852.30. This represents a 6.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ODFL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line from $199.00 to $188.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line from $210.00 to $205.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $214.00 target price on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Old Dominion Freight Line from $203.00 to $196.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.41.

About Old Dominion Freight Line

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc operates as a less-than-truckload motor carrier in the United States and North America. The company offers regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services, as well as expedited transportation. It also provides various value-added services, including container drayage, truckload brokerage, and supply chain consulting.