NFJ Investment Group LLC Makes New $2.50 Million Investment in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 69,518 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,497,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,660,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,010,000 after buying an additional 143,953 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,730,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $241,758,000 after acquiring an additional 32,228 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 12.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 435,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $16,804,000 after purchasing an additional 49,568 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,479 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Werner Enterprises by 0.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 85,815 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,312,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They set a “hold” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Citigroup raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.71.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $27.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.30. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.75 and a beta of 1.06. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.50 and a 12-month high of $42.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently 101.82%.

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.