Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Shares Bought by Nuance Investments LLC

Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 7.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,167,616 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 219,074 shares during the period. Werner Enterprises comprises approximately 3.5% of Nuance Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Nuance Investments LLC owned approximately 5.00% of Werner Enterprises worth $113,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 390.1% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 740 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth about $30,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the first quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 209.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,158 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on WERN. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $39.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $36.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.03. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $43.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.32 and a beta of 0.79.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The transportation company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.03). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 4.70%. The firm had revenue of $760.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.81 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.75%.

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.