Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.7692.

A number of research firms recently commented on WERN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter worth $34,201,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 5.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,404,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $63,287,000 after acquiring an additional 123,513 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the third quarter worth $4,062,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 205,654 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 30,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,750,034 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $82,529,000 after acquiring an additional 120,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $40.99 on Thursday. Werner Enterprises has a 52-week low of $23.06 and a 52-week high of $45.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -273.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.26.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $730.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $812.50 million. Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 0.28% and a positive return on equity of 0.66%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 6th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is -373.33%.

About Werner Enterprises

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.