First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stake in Wabash National Co. (NYSE:WNC)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Wabash National Co. (NYSE:WNC) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,468,605 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 269,846 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 3.39% of Wabash National worth $25,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in Wabash National by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,860 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Wabash National by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,704 shares in the last quarter. EMC Capital Management increased its holdings in Wabash National by 88.1% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 3,864 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Wabash National by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 71,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064 shares during the period. Finally, Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Wabash National by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 58,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 5,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Wabash National from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Wabash National Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE WNC opened at $10.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $424.14 million, a PE ratio of -1.54 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. Wabash National Co. has a 12-month low of $9.00 and a 12-month high of $24.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.13.

Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.04). Wabash National had a negative net margin of 14.59% and a positive return on equity of 14.72%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Wabash National Co. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wabash National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Wabash National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -4.91%.

Wabash National Company Profile

Wabash National Corporation provides connected solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment designs and manufactures transportation-related equipment and products dry and refrigerated van trailers, platform trailers, tank trailers, and truck-mounted tanks; truck bodies for dry-freight transportation; cargo and cargo XL bodies for commercial applications; refrigerated truck bodies; platform truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products.