Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Increases Position in VSE Co. (NASDAQ:VSEC)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in VSE Co. (NASDAQ:VSEC) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 167,236 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,324 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in VSE were worth $15,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VSEC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in VSE by 904.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 70,557 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,710,000 after purchasing an additional 63,536 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of VSE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,692,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in VSE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,439,000. Corebridge Financial Inc. boosted its stake in VSE by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 8,753 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in VSE by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,071,545 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $101,904,000 after acquiring an additional 182,465 shares in the last quarter. 91.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VSEC shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on VSE from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised VSE to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on VSE from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, VSE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.67.

VSE Price Performance

Shares of VSEC opened at $116.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.69 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.71. VSE Co. has a 1-year low of $73.36 and a 1-year high of $128.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 140.52 and a beta of 1.62.

VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The construction company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.17. VSE had a return on equity of 7.26% and a net margin of 1.36%. The business had revenue of $299.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.97 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that VSE Co. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

VSE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. VSE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.19%.

VSE Profile

VSE Corporation operates as a diversified aftermarket products and services company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Aviation and Fleet. The Aviation segment provides aftermarket parts supply and distribution; maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for components and engine accessories supporting commercial, business, and general aviation operators.