C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s (CHRW) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $125.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CHRW. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upgraded C.H. Robinson Worldwide from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna cut their target price on C.H. Robinson Worldwide from $130.00 to $127.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, C.H. Robinson Worldwide has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.33.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CHRW opened at $99.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. C.H. Robinson Worldwide has a 1 year low of $65.00 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.83.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The transportation company reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. C.H. Robinson Worldwide had a net margin of 2.63% and a return on equity of 35.64%. As a group, research analysts predict that C.H. Robinson Worldwide will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other C.H. Robinson Worldwide news, insider Michael John Short sold 10,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.87, for a total transaction of $1,143,526.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 70,943 shares in the company, valued at $7,794,507.41. This represents a 12.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael D. Castagnetto sold 2,032 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.81, for a total transaction of $210,941.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,226.89. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CHRW. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,219 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $436,648,000 after purchasing an additional 142,116 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,104,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $341,555,000 after buying an additional 42,189 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 92,841.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,007,574 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $310,742,000 after buying an additional 3,004,338 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 2,259.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,557,791 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $282,303,000 after acquiring an additional 2,449,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in C.H. Robinson Worldwide by 2.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,411,891 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $155,830,000 after acquiring an additional 36,769 shares during the period. 93.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Company Profile

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides freight transportation services, and related logistics and supply chain services in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: North American Surface Transportation and Global Forwarding. The company offers transportation and logistics services, such as truckload, less than truckload transportation brokerage services, which include the shipment of single or multiple pallets of freight; intermodal transportation that comprises the shipment service of freight in containers or trailers by a combination of truck and rail; and non-vessel operating common carrier and freight forwarding services, as well as organizes air shipments and provides door-to-door services.