JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 22,761 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,528 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,761 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.17% of Werner Enterprises worth $2,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 289.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,293 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 42.0% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,542 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 6.9% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 1,147.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 7,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth about $240,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

NASDAQ WERN opened at $30.46 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.71. The stock has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -126.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.09. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.02 and a 12-month high of $38.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.04). Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 0.48% and a positive return on equity of 0.04%. The company had revenue of $737.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $767.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. Werner Enterprises’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 13th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently -233.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Werner Enterprises

In other news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $49,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 57,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,007,740. This trade represents a 2.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WERN. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $20.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $33.15.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc, founded in 1956 by Clarence L. “Chris” Werner, is a leading transportation and logistics provider based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company began as a one‐truck operation and has since grown into one of North America’s largest carriers, offering an array of services to support diverse supply chains.

Werner’s core business activities include full truckload dry van services, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal transport and brokerage solutions. The company also provides value-added services such as warehousing, freight management and fleet maintenance through its network of terminals and service centers.