StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Wabash National (NYSE:WNC)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Wabash National (NYSE:WNC – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday morning. The firm issued a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on WNC. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Wabash National from $17.00 to $27.50 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Raymond James increased their target price on Wabash National from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on Wabash National from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded Wabash National from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $28.30.

Wabash National Stock Down 6.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WNC opened at $23.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Wabash National has a 52-week low of $12.23 and a 52-week high of $30.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 1.64.

Wabash National (NYSE:WNC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.13. Wabash National had a return on equity of 31.21% and a net margin of 4.49%. The business had revenue of $657.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $668.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 37.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wabash National will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wabash National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 5th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Wabash National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wabash National news, CEO Brent L. Yeagy sold 60,244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.08, for a total transaction of $1,691,651.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,129 shares in the company, valued at $8,961,142.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brent L. Yeagy sold 60,244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.08, for a total value of $1,691,651.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 319,129 shares in the company, valued at $8,961,142.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brent L. Yeagy sold 39,756 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total value of $912,797.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 379,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,710,404.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 270,005 shares of company stock worth $7,260,522 over the last three months. 1.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wabash National

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Wabash National in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Wabash National in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Wabash National in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Wabash National by 123.3% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Wabash National by 62.4% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.24% of the company’s stock.

Wabash National Company Profile

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Wabash National Corp. engages in the design, manufacture and market of semi-trailers, truck bodies, specialized commercial vehicles, and liquid transportation systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Trailer Products, Diversified Products, and Final Mile Products. The Commercial Trailer Products segment manufactures van and platform trailers and other transportation related equipment to customers who purchase directly from the company or through independent dealers.