Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) has recently been in the news due to changes in its institutional investor portfolio. According to its recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, Martingale Asset Management L P has decreased its position in Landstar System by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. The agency held 145,656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,303 shares during the period.
As per a report on Monday, February 6th by Raymond James , Landstar System achieved an “outperform” rating with a $200.00 price target for the company. Meanwhile, Robert W. Baird raised their price target from $160.00 to $180.00, while Stephens raised theirs from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd.
However, Stifel Nicolaus had made a contrasting move; dropping their price target for Landstar System to $178.00 from $184
in a Tuesday, May 2 report while StockNews.com started coverage and issued a “hold” rating for Landstar System.
Interestingly enough though is that nine equities research analysts have rated NASDAQ:LSTR as ‘hold’and only one has given it a buy rating making it seem relatively subdued by industry standards juxtaposed to its current market capitalization of $6.53 billion at press time.
The trading volume seems impressive for this particular play as shares of NASDAQ:LSTR traded up right around two dollars and thirty cents during midday trading on Friday which settled at $181.85 once all was said and done.
Landstar System has traversed quite the range over it’s most recent fiscal year having hit that four month low of $137-15-near fourteen months ago and subsequently ascending right around fifty percent to hit a twelve month high of $188.46 a few months ago.
With an accomplished price-to-earnings-ratio of 16.97 and a PEG ratio of 1.74, Landstar System has fit suitably within the transportation sector which has taken on new life in recent years thanks to growing consumer support for online shopping, among other factors.
Landstar System, Inc.
LSTR
Strong Buy
Updated on: 25/09/2023
Very Healthy 
Landstar System: Impressive Equity Holdings and Earnings Results Spark Investor Interest
Landstar System: A Transportation Company with Impressive Equity Holdings and Earnings Results
Landstar System (LSTR), a transportation company, has been garnering attention from investors due to recent stake increases by three large firms: HighTower Advisors LLC, Private Advisor Group LLC, and Bank of Montreal Can. According to the first-quarter reports, HighTower Advisors raised its holdings in Landstar System by 4.7% while Private Advisor Group increased its stake by 2.6%. Bank of Montreal Can also increased its holdings by approximately 5.7%. Additionally, two other firms – Panagora Asset Management Inc. and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS – have recently added to their positions in Landstar System.
Furthermore, LSTR’s CEO James B. Gattoni sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock at an average price of $175.95 on May 30th, causing some market watchers to pay close attention to any subsequent developments at LSTR.
Despite this insider selling activity, many equities analysts still see value in Landstar System’s stock as evidenced by recent research reports. In one such report, Raymond James raised LSTR from “market perform” to “outperform” and set a target price of $200 for the company; Robert W. Baird also raised LSTR’s target price from $160 to $180. While Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price from $184 to $178 earlier this month.
Landstar System posted its quarterly earnings results on April 26th which revealed impressive figures surpassing analyst predictions of revenue and earnings per share (EPS). The transportation firm had a return on equity (ROE) of over 43% and a net margin of over 5%. Though there was a decrease in revenue compared to the same period last year it was still within analyst estimates.
Furthermore, Landstar reported quarterly dividends which were paid to shareholders on May 26th. This quarter, the distributable income amounted to $0.30 per share for investors who were on record as of May 4th, bringing a combined annual dividend of $1.20 with a yield of almost 0.7%.
All these factors have contributed to attractive growth prospects for Landstar System. While the average rating of LSTR by analysts stands at Hold, it has an average target price of $166.83 indicating that the stock is expected to gain value in the future.
Institutional investors own nearly all (98.90%) of Landstar System’s outstanding shares and this fact alone speaks highly in favor of LSTR given its notable achievements in Q1 2017 and its dividend payouts performance in recent years.
Though readers are advised to carry out their due diligence before investing, Landstar System appears poised for impressive returns as evidenced by recent results and future prospects.
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