Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) Stock Falls 5.1% – Time to Sell?

Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA) fell 5.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $43.66 and last traded at $43.17. 43,025 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 703,103 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RUSHA. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Rush Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Rush Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $56.67 price target (up from $52.00) on shares of Rush Enterprises in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Zacks Research lowered Rush Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Rush Enterprises from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rush Enterprises currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.26.

Rush Enterprises Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.17.

Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Rush Enterprises had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 3.70%. As a group, research analysts predict that Rush Enterprises, Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Rush Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Rush Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently 25.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rush Enterprises news, SVP Michael Goldstone sold 4,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.13, for a total value of $170,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 28,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,023,548.93. This represents a 14.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William Rush sold 161,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.02, for a total transaction of $5,801,054.69. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 391,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,115,163.69. This trade represents a 29.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 180,391 shares of company stock worth $6,501,145. 12.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rush Enterprises

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Rush Enterprises by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,430,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,426,000 after purchasing an additional 96,418 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Rush Enterprises by 166.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,121,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,139,000 after purchasing an additional 700,511 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Rush Enterprises by 83.9% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 724,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,920,000 after purchasing an additional 330,553 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Rush Enterprises by 9.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 566,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,437,000 after buying an additional 49,009 shares during the period. Finally, EULAV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Rush Enterprises by 59.7% during the third quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 608,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,856,000 after buying an additional 227,352 shares in the last quarter. 84.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Rush Enterprises

Rush Enterprises, Inc is a commercial vehicle solutions provider operating through the Rush Truck Centers network. The company sells new and used commercial trucks, including vehicles from manufacturers such as Peterbilt, International, Hino, Isuzu and Ford, along with related buses and specialty vehicles in selected markets.

In addition to vehicle sales, Rush provides parts, maintenance and repair services through its dealership network. Its offerings also include truck leasing and rentals, collision repair, mobile service, aftermarket products, and fleet-management and technology solutions designed to support commercial transportation operators.

Founded in 1965 and headquartered in New Braunfels, Texas, Rush has expanded from its original Peterbilt dealership into one of the largest commercial vehicle dealership networks in the United States.