Schneider National, Inc. (NYSE:SNDR) Short Interest Up 30.6% in March

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 30.6% in March to 4,911,854 shares, equal to about 3.7% of the stock and a days-to-cover ratio of 4.7.
• Schneider missed its last quarter's estimates, reporting EPS of $0.13 vs. $0.21 expected and revenue of $1.25 billion vs. $1.45 billion expected, with a net margin of 1.83%.
• The company's board authorized a $150 million share repurchase (about 2.9% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.10 (annualized $0.40, ~1.6% yield).

Schneider National, Inc. (NYSE:SNDR - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,911,854 shares, an increase of 30.6% from the February 26th total of 3,759,993 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,036,756 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Currently, 3.7% of the company's stock are short sold.

Schneider National Stock Performance

Schneider National stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $25.49. 615,499 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,032,851. Schneider National has a 12-month low of $20.11 and a 12-month high of $30.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 2.13. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.33.

Schneider National (NYSE:SNDR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.08). Schneider National had a net margin of 1.83% and a return on equity of 3.66%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. Schneider National's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Schneider National will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Schneider National Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Schneider National's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Schneider National's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.80%.

Schneider National declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 28th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SNDR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore boosted their price target on shares of Schneider National from $21.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Schneider National from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. National Bank Financial set a $27.00 target price on Schneider National in a report on Friday, February 6th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Schneider National in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Schneider National in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Schneider National has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Darrell George Campbell sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.89, for a total transaction of $173,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 66,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,914,684.75. The trade was a 8.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 23.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Schneider National

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Schneider National by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,857,023 shares of the company's stock worth $128,859,000 after acquiring an additional 83,356 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Schneider National by 10.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,962,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,700,000 after purchasing an additional 381,898 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Schneider National by 64.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,077,455 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,115,000 after purchasing an additional 817,259 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in Schneider National by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,825,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,431,000 after purchasing an additional 249,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Schneider National by 145.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,816,087 shares of the company's stock worth $48,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.54% of the company's stock.

Schneider National Company Profile

Schneider National, Inc is a leading provider of transportation and logistics services in North America. The company offers a full spectrum of solutions, including truckload transportation, intermodal services and dedicated logistics. Through these offerings, Schneider supports the movement of goods ranging from dry van freight to refrigerated and flatbed shipments, while also providing customized supply chain management and warehousing capabilities.

Founded in 1935 by Al Schneider as a single-truck operation in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the company has grown into one of the industry's most recognized carriers.

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