Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) Stock Bumped Down to “Hold” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on ODFL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Old Dominion Freight Line from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $241.00 price objective (up from $224.00) on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a report on Monday, July 13th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $263.00 price objective on Old Dominion Freight Line and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $245.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $227.00 target price (down from $250.00) on shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.65.

Old Dominion Freight Line Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Old Dominion Freight Line stock opened at $177.46 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $36.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.16. Old Dominion Freight Line has a 12-month low of $126.01 and a 12-month high of $252.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.04.

Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Old Dominion Freight Line had a net margin of 19.44% and a return on equity of 24.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Old Dominion Freight Line will post 5.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Old Dominion Freight Line Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. 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 (DPR) is 22.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Cecil Overbey, Jr. sold 19,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.39, for a total transaction of $3,958,277.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 22,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,512,578.94. The trade was 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 link. 8.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Old Dominion Freight Line

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ODFL. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Old Dominion Freight Line in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,416,007,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in Old Dominion Freight Line by 98.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,122,696 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $648,186,000 after buying an additional 2,044,434 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Old Dominion Freight Line by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,680,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $577,137,000 after acquiring an additional 365,424 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Old Dominion Freight Line by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,314,157 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $519,660,000 after acquiring an additional 639,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Old Dominion Freight Line in the second quarter worth $543,289,000. 77.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Old Dominion Freight Line

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc is a transportation and logistics company that specializes in regional, inter-regional and national less-than-truckload (LTL) services. The company transports shipments that do not require an entire truck, serving commercial, industrial and retail customers across the United States.

Its services include standard and expedited LTL transportation, freight brokerage, supply chain consulting, container drayage and warehousing. Old Dominion supports customers through a network of service centers, terminals and distribution facilities, providing pickup, line-haul and delivery capabilities for a broad range of freight.

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