Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Separately, Stephens reduced their target price on Rush Enterprises from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd.

Rush Enterprises Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ:RUSHA traded down $1.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $49.23. 289,048 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,901. The firm's fifty day moving average is $50.62 and its 200-day moving average is $54.87. Rush Enterprises has a 12-month low of $40.99 and a 12-month high of $65.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.01. Rush Enterprises had a return on equity of 13.82% and a net margin of 3.76%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Rush Enterprises will post 3.91 EPS for the current year.

Rush Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Rush Enterprises's payout ratio is 20.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael L. Goldstone sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.10, for a total transaction of $234,450.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $651,771. This trade represents a 26.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jason Wilder sold 748 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.08, for a total value of $41,947.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 84,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,748,405.76. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,731 shares of company stock worth $303,634 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rush Enterprises

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RUSHA. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in Rush Enterprises during the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Rush Enterprises by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 30,100 shares of the company's stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Rush Enterprises by 724.4% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 91,683 shares of the company's stock worth $5,026,000 after acquiring an additional 80,562 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Rush Enterprises by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,446 shares of the company's stock worth $1,175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Rush Enterprises in the fourth quarter worth about $5,760,000. Institutional investors own 84.43% of the company's stock.

Rush Enterprises Company Profile

Rush Enterprises, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retailer of commercial vehicles and related services in the United States and Canada. The company operates a network of commercial vehicle dealerships under the Rush Truck Centers name. Its Rush Truck Centers primarily sell commercial vehicles manufactured by Peterbilt, International, Hino, Ford, Isuzu, IC Bus, Blue Bird, and Dennis Eagle.