Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Downgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on WERN. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 25th. 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, May 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $40.83.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $36.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.05. Werner Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $47.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $769.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $788.30 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 6.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Werner Enterprises will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WERN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $272,021,000 after acquiring an additional 565,193 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,973,767 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $168,369,000 after purchasing an additional 282,210 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,811,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $161,484,000 after purchasing an additional 33,906 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 30.0% in the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,948,542 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $115,347,000 after buying an additional 680,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in 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 valued at $55,621,000 after buying an additional 48,340 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.