Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Short Interest Up 19.4% in October

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,940,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the October 15th total of 3,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 688,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.7 days. Currently, 6.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WERN. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.57.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 362,786 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,000,000 after buying an additional 16,637 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 65.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 879,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,455,000 after acquiring an additional 348,154 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 252,504 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,047,000 after purchasing an additional 32,503 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Werner Enterprises by 90.8% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 176,164 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,892,000 after purchasing an additional 83,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,506,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,984,000 after purchasing an additional 201,843 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $40.21 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.06. Werner Enterprises 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 0.48, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 55.08, a P/E/G ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 0.80.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.06). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $745.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $765.24 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

About Werner Enterprises

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.