Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.85.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the first quarter valued at about $468,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 33,188 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 12,355 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Norden Group LLC increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 43.0% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 3,416 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,421,798 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $55,621,000 after buying an additional 48,340 shares during the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $36.31 on Friday. Werner Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $47.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.82.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $769.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $788.30 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 6.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Werner Enterprises will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is 42.75%.

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.