Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN Shares Purchased by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 671,024 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,671 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.08% of Werner Enterprises worth $19,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 163.5% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 959 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 69.7% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,176 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 15.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,701 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crestline Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter worth approximately $254,000. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WERN. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. 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 note on Monday, May 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $28.85 on Tuesday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.02 and a 52 week high of $42.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that allows the company to repurchase 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is 65.12%.

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.