Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) Short Interest Down 20.5% in December

Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 592,800 shares, a decrease of 20.5% from the December 15th total of 745,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 252,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Landstar System

In other news, CFO James P. Todd sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.32, for a total value of $184,320.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,595,778.56. This represents a 6.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Landstar System

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LSTR. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Landstar System by 3,775.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 334,853 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $63,243,000 after buying an additional 326,212 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Landstar System by 509.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 55,048 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,397,000 after purchasing an additional 46,014 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Landstar System by 24.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 232,924 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $43,992,000 after buying an additional 45,147 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Landstar System by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 429,928 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $81,201,000 after purchasing an additional 41,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Landstar System by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 813,546 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $153,685,000 after purchasing an additional 39,223 shares during the period. 97.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Landstar System Stock Performance

NASDAQ LSTR traded up $5.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $177.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 62,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 210,753. Landstar System has a 12 month low of $164.04 and a 12 month high of $200.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 2.21. The company has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.36 and a beta of 0.83.

Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.04). Landstar System had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Landstar System will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Landstar System Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a dividend of $2.00 per share. This is a boost from Landstar System’s previous special dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Landstar System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LSTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Landstar System from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James lowered shares of Landstar System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Landstar System from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Landstar System from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Landstar System from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.45.

About Landstar System

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.