Credit Suisse Group Downgrades Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) to Neutral

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) was downgraded by Credit Suisse Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They presently have a $48.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $52.00. Credit Suisse Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.53% from the stock’s previous close.

WERN has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $54.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.28.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $44.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.24. Werner Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $35.84 and a fifty-two week high of $50.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.83.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The transportation company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $832.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $857.09 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Werner Enterprises will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 7.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 280,058 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,740,000 after acquiring an additional 19,310 shares during the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 1st quarter valued at $296,000. Scopus Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 1st quarter worth $5,686,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 8.8% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 177,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,089,000 after purchasing an additional 14,312 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 4.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,223,477 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $55,656,000 after purchasing an additional 51,542 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.95% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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Werner Enterprises, Inc engages in the provision of logistics services. It operates through the Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics segments. The Truckload Transportation Services segment consists of one-way truckload and specialized services units such as the medium-to-long haul van fleet which provides a consumer non durable products and commodities in truckload quantities.