Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Upgraded to Neutral at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Citigroup currently has $34.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock.

WERN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays raised their target price 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. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $20.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $33.15.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of WERN opened at $31.22 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -130.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 1.95. Werner Enterprises has a 52 week low of $23.02 and a 52 week high of $38.45.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $737.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.51 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 13th 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 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 13th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is presently -233.33%.

Insider Activity at Werner Enterprises

In other news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,418 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $49,318.04. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 55,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,945,801.88. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Werner Enterprises by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,660 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 5,473 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 36,697 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 126,854 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,717,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 25.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,171 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 5,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 26.6% in the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 13,019 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.