Analysts Set VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC) PT at $252.22

Shares of VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $252.2222.

VSEC has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price target on shares of VSE in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research lowered shares of VSE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of VSE from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on VSE from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on VSE from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VSE news, COO Benjamin Thomas sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.82, for a total value of $1,279,330.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 42,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,431,571.98. This trade represents a 13.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John Cuomo sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.49, for a total value of $4,243,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 169,537 shares in the company, valued at $41,111,027.13. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of VSE

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in VSE by 34.2% during the 1st 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 acquired a new stake in shares of VSE in the first quarter valued at approximately $247,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,258,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of VSE by 10.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 346,390 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,563,000 after buying an additional 32,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $6,050,000 after buying an additional 18,220 shares during the last quarter. 91.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

VSE Stock Performance

Shares of VSEC opened at $203.91 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $213.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.06. VSE has a 12-month low of $154.67 and a 12-month high of $247.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 65.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The construction company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $449.14 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 65.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that VSE will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

VSE Announces Dividend

The business 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%.

VSE Company Profile

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.