Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.83.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WERN. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $36.86 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.04. Werner Enterprises has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $47.27. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.14). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 6.15% and a net margin of 2.59%. The business had revenue of $769.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $788.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.75%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,268,348 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $96,110,000 after purchasing an additional 812,563 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,021,000 after acquiring an additional 565,193 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,973,767 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $168,369,000 after acquiring an additional 282,210 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 35.0% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 962,645 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,495,000 after acquiring an additional 249,838 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,302,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.