VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) Trading 6.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC) shares rose 6.4% on Tuesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $245.00 to $260.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. VSE traded as high as $235.19 and last traded at $235.4050. 63,139 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 569,567 shares. The stock had previously closed at $221.23.

A number of other research firms have also commented on VSEC. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of VSE in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $268.00 target price on shares of VSE in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of VSE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded VSE from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of VSE in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, VSE presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VSE news, COO Benjamin E. Thomas sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.82, for a total transaction of $1,279,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,839 shares in the company, valued at $8,431,571.98. This represents a 13.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of VSE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in VSE in the second quarter valued at about $4,971,000. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of VSE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of VSE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,782,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of VSE during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of VSE during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $300,000. 91.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VSE Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $205.62 and its 200-day moving average is $199.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.47, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The construction company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $449.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.03 million. VSE had a net margin of 6.17% and a return on equity of 6.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 65.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that VSE Corporation will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VSE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. VSE’s payout ratio is currently 12.82%.

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.