Benjamin Thomas Sells 6,500 Shares of VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) Stock

VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC) COO Benjamin Thomas sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.82, for a total value of $1,279,330.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,431,571.98. This represents a 13.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

VSE Trading Up 1.5%

VSEC opened at $196.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $187.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.84. VSE Corporation has a one year low of $123.69 and a one year high of $232.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 6.24 and a current ratio of 8.78.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The construction company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $324.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.19 million. VSE had a return on equity of 6.56% and a net margin of 4.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that VSE Corporation will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

VSE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. VSE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VSEC. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on VSE from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $268.00 target price on shares of VSE in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research lowered VSE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial upgraded VSE to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of VSE in a report on Sunday, May 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.13.

Institutional Trading of VSE

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VSEC. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of VSE by 34.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 13,139 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,576,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in VSE during the first quarter worth $247,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in VSE by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,485 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in VSE by 10.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 346,390 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,563,000 after buying an additional 32,489 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in VSE by 56.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 50,422 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,050,000 after buying an additional 18,220 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.54% of the company’s stock.

About VSE

VSE Corporation (NASDAQ: VSEC) is a provider of aftermarket distribution and supply chain management services serving both government and commercial markets. The company’s solutions span a wide range of industries, with particular emphasis on defense, aerospace and transportation. VSE’s core mission is to ensure mission readiness by delivering critical parts, maintenance and technical support for equipment throughout its lifecycle.

Through its Distribution Services segment, VSE sources, markets and distributes replacement parts and components for commercial truck, bus, rail and specialty vehicle applications.