Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Upgraded to “Buy” by Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) from an underperform rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday, The Fly reports. They currently have $50.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WERN. Vertical Research cut shares of Werner Enterprises from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $48.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, November 28th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Friday, November 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.14.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $44.22 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.34 and its 200-day moving average is $40.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.37. Werner Enterprises has a 12-month low of $35.84 and a 12-month high of $47.04.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 2nd. The transportation company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $827.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.79 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 18.66% and a net margin of 8.07%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 30th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently 13.16%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WERN. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 23.1% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,334,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,059,000 after acquiring an additional 812,355 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 23.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,215,945 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $123,943,000 after buying an additional 600,874 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 2,103.2% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 400,163 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $16,407,000 after buying an additional 382,000 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 120.9% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 45,529 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,867,000 after buying an additional 263,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 15.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 986,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,272,000 after buying an additional 130,728 shares during the last quarter. 83.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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Werner Enterprises, Inc, a transportation and logistics company, engages in transporting truckload shipments of general commodities in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics segments.