Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Universal Logistics from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $36.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Universal Logistics Stock Performance

NASDAQ ULH opened at $45.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.94 and a 200-day moving average of $29.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Universal Logistics has a 1-year low of $20.85 and a 1-year high of $48.63.

Universal Logistics (NASDAQ:ULH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The transportation company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $390.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.30 million. Universal Logistics had a net margin of 7.02% and a return on equity of 23.60%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Universal Logistics will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Universal Logistics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Universal Logistics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.17%.

Institutional Trading of Universal Logistics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULH. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Universal Logistics by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,115,321 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,264,000 after acquiring an additional 295,701 shares during the period. Scopus Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Universal Logistics by 49.7% during the 3rd quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. now owns 135,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,412,000 after acquiring an additional 45,000 shares during the period. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Universal Logistics during the fourth quarter worth $470,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Universal Logistics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 799,351 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $22,400,000 after purchasing an additional 12,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Universal Logistics during the third quarter worth $253,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.50% of the company’s stock.

About Universal Logistics

Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc provides transportation and logistics solutions in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Colombia. The company offers truckload services, which include dry van, flatbed, heavy-haul, and refrigerated operations; domestic and international freight forwarding, and customs brokerage services.