Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) Short Interest Update

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

Landstar System Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ LSTR traded up $2.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $161.80. 260,211 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 339,663. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $172.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 2.21. Landstar System has a 12-month low of $157.99 and a 12-month high of $196.86. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Landstar System Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Landstar System

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Landstar System by 28.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 59,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,144,000 after purchasing an additional 12,931 shares during the period. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of Landstar System during the third quarter worth about $1,228,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $63,243,000 after purchasing an additional 326,212 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Landstar System by 8.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 162,222 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,639,000 after purchasing an additional 12,894 shares during the period. 97.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LSTR shares. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Landstar System from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Landstar System from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Landstar System from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Landstar System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Landstar System from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Landstar System presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.40.

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.