Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. Decreases Stake in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. $CHRW

Key Points

• Speece Thorson Capital Group cut its stake in C.H. Robinson by 24.4% in Q4, selling 20,311 shares and now holding 62,839 shares (about 0.05% of the company) valued at $10.1 million.
• Major institutions including Vanguard, State Street and Wellington increased their holdings—Vanguard now owns about 14.56 million shares—and institutional investors collectively own roughly 93.15% of the stock.
• C.H. Robinson posted Q4 EPS of $1.23 (beating estimates) while revenue fell 6.5% year-over-year; analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $186.22, and the stock yields about 1.4%.

Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. lowered its holdings in C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW - Free Report) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,839 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 20,311 shares during the quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. owned 0.05% of C.H. Robinson Worldwide worth $10,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,565,409 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,341,535,000 after acquiring an additional 364,163 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 5.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,420,768 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $716,423,000 after acquiring an additional 397,177 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 198.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,143,297 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $945,773,000 after acquiring an additional 4,751,034 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 6.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,731,363 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $494,372,000 after acquiring an additional 213,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 5.1% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,550,029 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $205,224,000 after acquiring an additional 75,312 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $135.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $165.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut C.H. Robinson Worldwide from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.22.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Stock Performance

Shares of CHRW opened at $183.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.45. The stock has a market cap of $21.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.93. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.58 and a 52 week high of $203.34.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.97 billion. C.H. Robinson Worldwide had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 3.62%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. C.H. Robinson Worldwide's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David P. Bozeman purchased 1,223 shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $163.34 per share, for a total transaction of $199,764.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 190,600 shares in the company, valued at $31,132,604. This represents a 0.65% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael D. Castagnetto purchased 594 shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $168.24 per share, with a total value of $99,934.56. Following the transaction, the insider owned 35,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,970,501.12. This represents a 1.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 2,422 shares of company stock valued at $400,801 and have sold 17,796 shares valued at $3,555,415. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

About C.H. Robinson Worldwide

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc is a third-party logistics provider founded in 1905 and headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Originally established as a produce brokerage firm, the company has since expanded its offerings to become one of the world's largest freight and logistics intermediaries. C.H. Robinson leverages a global network of transportation providers, technology platforms, and in-house expertise to connect shippers and carriers across multiple modes of transportation.

The company's primary services include truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), intermodal, air and ocean freight, and managed transportation solutions.

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