Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Reaches New 52-Week Low at $34.67

Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $34.67 and last traded at $35.62, with a volume of 105000 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WERN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.00.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

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’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.33. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 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 net margin of 3.42% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The firm had revenue of $821.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.90 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.82%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WERN. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,268,348 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $96,110,000 after buying an additional 812,563 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,334,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,059,000 after buying an additional 812,355 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,536,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 220.6% during the 1st quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 846,704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,517,000 after buying an additional 582,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $272,021,000 after buying an additional 565,193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

About Werner Enterprises

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.