abrdn plc Sells 197,560 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

abrdn plc cut its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 31.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 428,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 197,560 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $18,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WERN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 139.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 703 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 46.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. 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, April 18th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.00.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $35.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.78. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.67 and a twelve month high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.05). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 3.42% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $821.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $820.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.82%.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.