C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $72.09, but opened at $81.00. C.H. Robinson Worldwide shares last traded at $83.98, with a volume of 1,031,430 shares trading hands.

The transportation company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.21. C.H. Robinson Worldwide had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.61%. The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s payout ratio is 90.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CHRW shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down from $80.00) on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide in a report on Monday, April 1st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, C.H. Robinson Worldwide has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.87.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C.H. Robinson Worldwide

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tobam boosted its position in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 108,123 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,232,000 after purchasing an additional 25,027 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,046 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide in the 1st quarter worth about $1,468,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 144,984 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,039,000 after buying an additional 33,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 168,056 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $12,796,000 after buying an additional 12,162 shares in the last quarter. 93.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Stock Up 16.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.55 and its 200 day moving average is $79.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.75.

About C.H. Robinson Worldwide

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides freight transportation services, and related logistics and supply chain services in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: North American Surface Transportation and Global Forwarding. The company offers transportation and logistics services, such as truckload, less than truckload transportation brokerage services, which include the shipment of single or multiple pallets of freight; intermodal transportation that comprises the shipment service of freight in containers or trailers by a combination of truck and rail; and non-vessel operating common carrier and freight forwarding services, as well as organizes air shipments and provides door-to-door services.