Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.15 EPS

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The transportation company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.15), Zacks reports. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.48% and a return on equity of 3.58%.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ WERN traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $34.65. 935,402 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 708,167. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.57. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $33.12 and a 1 year high of $42.48. 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 $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.84.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is 76.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WERN. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on Werner Enterprises in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna raised Werner Enterprises from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.50.

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.