Will Ryder's Shareholder-Friendly Initiatives Aid the Bottom Line?

Ryder System, Inc. (R) has been consistently making efforts to reward its shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, which are encouraging. In 2022, Ryder paid dividends of $123 million and repurchased shares worth $557 million. In 2023, Ryder paid dividends of $128 million and repurchased shares worth $337 million. In 2024, Ryder returned $456 million in cash to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. During the first half of 2025, Ryder paid $71 million in the form of dividend payments and repurchased shares worth $261 million.

On July 10, 2025, Ryder’s board of directors approved a dividend hike of 12%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to 91 cents per share ($3.64 annualized) from 81 cents ($3.24 annualized). The move reflects R’s intention to utilize free cash to enhance its shareholders’ returns.

R's latest dividend hike is the first increase since July 2024, implying the company’s confidence in its financial footing. This marks Ryder’s 196th consecutive quarterly cash dividend. Notably, Ryder has been making uninterrupted dividend payments for more than 49 years.

Dividend-paying stocks provide a solid income stream and have fewer chances of experiencing wild price swings. Dividend stocks, like R, are safe bets for creating wealth, as the payouts generally act as a hedge against economic uncertainty, like the current scenario. 

R’s management’s decision to increase its quarterly dividend payout reflects the company’s commitment to boosting shareholder value, apart from underlining confidence in its business. We believe such shareholder-friendly initiatives should boost investor confidence and positively impact thiscompany’s bottom line.

What About Other Transportation Players?

Ryder is not the only player from theZacks Transportation sector that has rewarded its shareholders with dividend payouts or share buyback programs in 2025. To name a few, on Sept. 8, 2025, Kirby Corporation’s (KEX) board of directorsannounced a stock repurchase authorization of up to an additional $8 million shares of common stock. This latest authorization is in addition to the previously announced 5 million share repurchase authorization, of which almost 0.8 million shares were available for repurchase as of Sept. 5, 2025. As a result, Kirby is now authorized to repurchase almost 8.8 million shares collectively.

On Aug. 11, 2025, Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN) board of directors approved a new share repurchase program. Per the new program, WERN is now authorized to repurchase up to5 million shares. Upon approval of this new program, Werner’s board has withdrawn the earlier share repurchase authorization, which had approximately 1.8 million shares remaining available for repurchase as of June 30, 2025 (announced during WERN’s second-quarter 2025 earnings release on July 29, 2025). The new authorization is expected to continue until the company’s board announces its withdrawal.

On July 16, 2025, Union Pacific Corporation’s (UNP) board of directors approved a dividend hike of 3%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to $1.38 per share ($5.52 annualized) from $1.34 ($5.36 annualized). The raised dividend will be paid on Sept. 30, 2025, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 29. The move reflects UNP’s intention to utilize free cash to enhance its shareholders’ returns. We would like to remind investors that UNP has paid dividends for 126 consecutive years.

Ryder’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Ryder have had a good run of late, improving in double-digits over the past year. The encouraging price performance resulted in Ryder outperforming the Zacks  Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry it belongs to.

Ryder Stock's One-Year Price Comparison

From a valuation perspective, R is trading at a discount compared to the industry, going by its forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio.

The stock has a forward 12-month P/S-F12M of 0.57X compared with 1.94X for the industry over the past five years. These factors indicate that the stock’s valuation is attractive. Ryder has a Value Score of A.

Ryder P/S Ratio (Forward 12 Months) Vs. Industry

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ryder’s 2025 earnings has been revised upward over the past 90 days.

Ryder’s Zacks Rank

Ryder currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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