Werner Enterprises, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.14 (NASDAQ:WERN)

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%.

Werner Enterprises has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% per year over the last three years. Werner Enterprises has a dividend payout ratio of 26.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Werner Enterprises to earn $2.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.2%.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ:WERN traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 491,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 719,748. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.34. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.11 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Werner Enterprises has a twelve month low of $33.12 and a twelve month high of $42.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.15). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.13%. On average, equities analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.29.

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.