Arizona State Retirement System Lowers Stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,835 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 308 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 238,975 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,798,000 after acquiring an additional 40,108 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 50.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 38.9% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 69,575 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 19,471 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.6% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 211,666 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 21,941 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 1,762 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ WERN opened at $35.26 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.33. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.67 and a 12 month high of $47.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.05). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 3.42%. The firm had revenue of $821.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $820.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Barclays lowered Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.00.

Werner Enterprises Profile

Werner Enterprises, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in transporting truckload shipments of general commodities in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics.