Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Invests $344,000 in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 9,564 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 735,695 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,426,000 after acquiring an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter worth approximately $207,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 404,048 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $14,513,000 after acquiring an additional 34,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 121,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,364,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 672.8% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 75,632 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,717,000 after acquiring an additional 65,845 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WERN opened at $30.24 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.26 and a 1-year high of $42.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.98 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.61.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.15). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.13%. Research analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WERN. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of 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 price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Werner Enterprises 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.