Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WERN. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Monday, December 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $33.15.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

NASDAQ WERN opened at $31.65 on Tuesday. Werner Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week high of $38.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -131.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.93 and a 200-day moving average of $29.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 positive return on equity of 0.04% and a negative net margin of 0.48%.The company had revenue of $737.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently -233.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Werner Enterprises news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $49,318.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 55,946 shares in the company, valued at $1,945,801.88. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $195,491,000 after acquiring an additional 90,480 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 0.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,791,148 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $99,782,000 after acquiring an additional 24,204 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 5.7% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,058,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $80,511,000 after acquiring an additional 165,233 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,750,034 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $82,529,000 after acquiring an additional 120,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 605.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $75,336,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154,428 shares during the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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.