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

Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.9286.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WERN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,791,148 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $99,782,000 after buying an additional 24,204 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 5.7% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,058,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $80,511,000 after acquiring an additional 165,233 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $63,287,000 after acquiring an additional 123,513 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 7.1% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,965,037 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,023,000 after acquiring an additional 129,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 745,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $20,387,000 after purchasing an additional 94,440 shares during the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ WERN opened at $30.69 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.62. Werner Enterprises has a twelve month low of $23.02 and a twelve month high of $38.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.85, a PEG ratio of 21.08 and a beta of 1.08.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.18). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 0.14% and a net margin of 0.85%.The business had revenue of $712.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.63 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Monday, January 5th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 5th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.59%.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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.