Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $180.96, but opened at $173.02. Old Dominion Freight Line shares last traded at $176.3370, with a volume of 304,879 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $241.00 target price (up from $224.00) on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Old Dominion Freight Line from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $243.00 target price (up from $237.00) on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Old Dominion Freight Line from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Old Dominion Freight Line from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $227.65.

Old Dominion Freight Line Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $36.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $207.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.53.

Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.14. Old Dominion Freight Line had a return on equity of 24.87% and a net margin of 19.44%.The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. will post 5.78 EPS for the current year.

Old Dominion Freight Line Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. Old Dominion Freight Line’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Cecil Overbey, Jr. sold 19,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.39, for a total value of $3,958,277.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 22,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,512,578.94. This represents a 46.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 8.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Old Dominion Freight Line

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ODFL. Summitry LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Old Dominion Freight Line by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 218,175 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,210,000 after acquiring an additional 11,223 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH bought a new stake in Old Dominion Freight Line during the first quarter worth about $1,056,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Old Dominion Freight Line by 275.9% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 61,040 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,573,000 after buying an additional 44,800 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Old Dominion Freight Line by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 421,650 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $66,115,000 after purchasing an additional 62,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in Old Dominion Freight Line by 107.2% during the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 15,497 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,430,000 after buying an additional 8,016 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.82% of the company’s stock.

About Old Dominion Freight Line

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc is a transportation and logistics company that specializes in less-than-truckload (LTL) freight services. The company transports shipments that do not require a full trailer, consolidating freight from multiple customers and providing regional, inter-regional and nationwide service.

Its service offerings include expedited transportation, truckload brokerage, container drayage, warehousing and supply chain consulting. Old Dominion operates a network of service centers and transportation facilities designed to support pickup and delivery, freight handling and distribution throughout the contiguous United States, with additional cross-border service to Canada and Mexico.

Founded in 1934 by Earl and Lillian Congdon, the company is headquartered in Thomasville, North Carolina.