Rush Enterprises, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NASDAQ:RUSHA)

Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

Rush Enterprises has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.4% annually over the last three years. Rush Enterprises has a dividend payout ratio of 15.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Rush Enterprises to earn $4.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.6%.

Rush Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of RUSHA opened at $58.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.02. Rush Enterprises has a twelve month low of $40.99 and a twelve month high of $65.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.24.

Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.09. Rush Enterprises had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 14.76%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Rush Enterprises will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Rush Enterprises

In related news, SVP Jody Pollard sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.43, for a total transaction of $634,837.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $175,892.31. This trade represents a 78.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Mcroberts sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.52, for a total transaction of $234,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,918.92. This trade represents a 20.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Rush Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

About Rush Enterprises

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.