Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 130 Shares of Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,854 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ryder System were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ryder System during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,475,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Ryder System by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,928 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ryder System during the 1st quarter valued at about $557,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ryder System by 41.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ryder System by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 73,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $11,574,000 after buying an additional 6,908 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on R. Susquehanna started coverage on shares of Ryder System in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. They set a “positive” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of Ryder System in a research report on Monday, June 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Ryder System from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ryder System from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $159.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Ryder System to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.50.

Ryder System Price Performance

NYSE R opened at $177.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $165.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.98. Ryder System, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.54 and a 52-week high of $184.76. The company has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.00.

Ryder System (NYSE:R) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Ryder System had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 17.83%. Ryder System’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ryder System, Inc. will post 13.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ryder System Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Ryder System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Ryder System’s dividend payout ratio is 27.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Cristina Gallo-Aquino sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.87, for a total transaction of $180,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 26,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,804,088.07. This trade represents a 3.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert E. Sanchez sold 22,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.49, for a total transaction of $4,026,276.87. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 62,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,476,248.63. This trade represents a 25.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,582 shares of company stock valued at $8,158,745. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Ryder System Profile

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.