Bank of New York Mellon Corp Trims Stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 593,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 38,294 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.96% of Werner Enterprises worth $17,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,791,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 121,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,364,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter worth approximately $523,000. Finally, Sciencast Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter worth approximately $305,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WERN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.40.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $27.73 on Friday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a one year low of $23.02 and a one year high of $42.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.64 and its 200 day moving average is $30.29.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.24). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 1.20% and a net margin of 0.60%. The company had revenue of $712.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $738.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 7th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently 193.10%.

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.