Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) Upgraded to “Neutral” by UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has $137.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $95.00.

EXPD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Expeditors International of Washington from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Expeditors International of Washington from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Expeditors International of Washington from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded Expeditors International of Washington from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $112.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Expeditors International of Washington from $111.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Expeditors International of Washington has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $115.90.

Expeditors International of Washington Price Performance

NASDAQ EXPD traded down $3.72 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $122.76. 250,354 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,291,100. The firm has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.44, a PEG ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 0.98. Expeditors International of Washington has a 52-week low of $107.03 and a 52-week high of $131.17. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.26.

Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The transportation company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Expeditors International of Washington had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Expeditors International of Washington will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expeditors International of Washington Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This is a boost from Expeditors International of Washington’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.69. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Expeditors International of Washington’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark A. Emmert sold 8,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total transaction of $1,001,727.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,741,891.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Blake R. Bell sold 4,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.99, for a total value of $479,659.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 52,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,170,637.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark A. Emmert sold 8,100 shares of Expeditors International of Washington stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total value of $1,001,727.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,085 shares in the company, valued at $1,741,891.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expeditors International of Washington

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EXPD. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Expeditors International of Washington by 71.9% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 228,058 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,009,000 after purchasing an additional 95,389 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in Expeditors International of Washington by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 369,420 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,990,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its stake in Expeditors International of Washington by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 452,233 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $57,524,000 after buying an additional 13,811 shares during the period. Prudential PLC raised its stake in Expeditors International of Washington by 80.5% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 88,169 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $11,215,000 after buying an additional 39,321 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Expeditors International of Washington during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,468,000. Institutional investors own 94.02% of the company’s stock.

About Expeditors International of Washington

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides logistics services worldwide. The company offers airfreight services, such as air freight consolidation and forwarding; ocean freight and ocean services, including ocean freight consolidation, direct ocean forwarding, and order management; customs brokerage, import, intra-continental ground transportation and delivery, and warehousing and distribution services; and customs clearance, purchase order management, vendor consolidation, time-definite transportation services, temperature-controlled transit, cargo insurance, specialized cargo monitoring and tracking, and other supply chain solutions.