Insider Selling: VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) COO Sells $1,279,330.00 in Stock

VSE Corporation (NASDAQ:VSEC) COO Benjamin Thomas sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.82, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 13.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

VSE Price Performance

VSE stock opened at $196.13 on Monday. VSE Corporation has a 52-week low of $123.69 and a 52-week high of $232.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.76, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $191.96. The company has a quick ratio of 6.24, a current ratio of 8.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The construction company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.24. VSE had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 6.56%. The business had revenue of $324.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that VSE Corporation will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VSE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. VSE’s dividend payout ratio is 16.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSEC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of VSE from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research cut shares of VSE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $268.00 price target on shares of VSE in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of VSE from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of VSE in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, VSE currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VSE by 145.7% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 258 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in VSE during the first quarter worth about $247,000. Ellevest Inc. purchased a new position in VSE during the fourth quarter worth about $323,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in VSE by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,207 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in VSE by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 5,600 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $968,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.54% of the company’s stock.

About VSE

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.