Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 21.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 853,258 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 149,087 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.38% of Werner Enterprises worth $25,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 69.7% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,176 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 796.3% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 1,513 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 15.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 69.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,701 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 2,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $27.66 on Thursday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.02 and a 52 week high of $42.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.93.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 0.92% and a net margin of 1.77%.The business had revenue of $753.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $736.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that permits the company to repurchase 5,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the transportation company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 6th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently 65.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WERN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises 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.