Short Interest in Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) Grows By 43.9%

Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 865,900 shares, an increase of 43.9% from the January 15th total of 601,700 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 280,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LSTR has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Landstar System in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Landstar System from $184.00 to $177.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Landstar System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Landstar System from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.40.

Landstar System Stock Performance

Shares of LSTR stock traded up $2.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $161.80. The stock had a trading volume of 260,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,663. Landstar System has a twelve month low of $157.99 and a twelve month high of $196.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 2.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 29.31 and a beta of 0.83.

Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Landstar System had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 4.07%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Landstar System will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Landstar System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Landstar System’s payout ratio is presently 26.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Landstar System

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in Landstar System by 28.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 59,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $11,144,000 after acquiring an additional 12,931 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV bought a new position in Landstar System during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,228,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in Landstar System by 419.3% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,682 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 2,973 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Landstar System by 3,775.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 334,853 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $63,243,000 after acquiring an additional 326,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Landstar System by 8.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 162,222 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,639,000 after acquiring an additional 12,894 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.95% of the company’s stock.

Landstar System Company 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.