Ryder System (NYSE:R) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ryder System (NYSE:R) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on R. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Ryder System from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ryder System from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a buy rating and set a $122.00 target price on shares of Ryder System in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird reissued a buy rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Ryder System in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ryder System from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $120.00.

Ryder System Price Performance

Shares of NYSE R opened at $114.21 on Friday. Ryder System has a fifty-two week low of $76.15 and a fifty-two week high of $121.58. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.23.

Ryder System (NYSE:R) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The transportation company reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.75 by $0.20. Ryder System had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 19.68%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ryder System will post 11.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryder System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Ryder System’s payout ratio is currently 32.53%.

Insider Transactions at Ryder System

In other news, CMO Karen M. Jones sold 7,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.48, for a total transaction of $877,994.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 12,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,406,698.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ryder System during the 4th quarter valued at $1,892,000. Cambridge Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ryder System during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,186,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Ryder System by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 78,946 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,443,000 after purchasing an additional 15,361 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ryder System by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,666,621 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $178,245,000 after purchasing an additional 40,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Ryder System by 174.7% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,717 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908 shares in the last quarter. 87.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ryder System

Ryder System, Inc operates as a logistics and transportation company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Fleet Management Solutions (FMS), Supply Chain Solutions (SCS), and Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS). The FMS segment offers full-service leasing and leasing with flexible maintenance options; commercial vehicle rental services; and contract or transactional maintenance services of trucks, tractors, and trailers; access to diesel fuel; and fuel planning and tax reporting, cards, and monitoring services, and centralized billing, as well as sells used vehicles through its retail sales centers and www.ryder.com/used-trucks website, as well as digital and technology support services.