VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) Stock Gets Price Target Bump from Royal Bank Of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada raised its VSE price target to $225 from $220 and maintained an “outperform” rating, implying about 30.6% upside from the stock’s current price.
• VSE reported quarterly EPS of $2.01, beating the $1.76 consensus estimate, while revenue of $541 million exceeded forecasts and rose 91.2% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is moderately bullish: MarketBeat reports a $254 consensus price target, with one Strong Buy, seven Buy, and five Hold ratings.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $220.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the construction company's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price objective points to a potential upside of 30.56% from the company's current price.

VSEC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of VSE in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of VSE in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of VSE from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of VSE from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of VSE from $245.00 to $215.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $254.00.

VSE Stock Performance

VSEC traded up $7.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $172.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 296,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 535,531. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.84 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.26. VSE has a fifty-two week low of $138.85 and a fifty-two week high of $247.85.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.25. VSE had a return on equity of 7.58% and a net margin of 7.87%. The company had revenue of $541.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $512.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 91.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that VSE will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at VSE

In other news, CEO John Cuomo sold 1,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.49, for a total value of $293,609.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 167,971 shares in the company, valued at $31,492,882.79. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VSE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its position in VSE by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 314,789 shares of the construction company's stock worth $58,047,000 after purchasing an additional 35,246 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of VSE in the second quarter valued at $44,103,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lifted its holdings in shares of VSE by 16.4% in the first quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 195,915 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $36,127,000 after purchasing an additional 27,563 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of VSE in the second quarter valued at $29,461,000. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of VSE in the second quarter worth $22,888,000. 91.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About VSE

VSE Corporation is a diversified provider of aftermarket distribution, maintenance, repair, overhaul, engineering, logistics and other sustainment services for government and commercial customers. The company supports complex assets and supply chains, with activities spanning aviation, defense, transportation and fleet markets.

Through its aviation businesses, VSE distributes aircraft parts and provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services for commercial, general aviation, business and government aircraft.

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