Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 98,330 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 44.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 317,267 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 98,330 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $13,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 139.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 35.3% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 46.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,402 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 1.6 %

WERN opened at $36.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.90. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $47.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.51 and its 200 day moving average is $39.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $769.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $788.30 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 6.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WERN has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.83.

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.