TD Cowen Initiates Coverage on Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN)

Equities research analysts at TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) in a note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating and a $31.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock. TD Cowen’s price target suggests a potential downside of 10.51% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $20.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $31.79.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $34.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 84.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Werner Enterprises has a twelve month low of $23.02 and a twelve month high of $37.02.

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

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,660 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 5,473 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 36,697 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 126,854 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,717,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 413.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 306.9% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,294 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Werner Enterprises

Here are the key news stories impacting Werner Enterprises this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Werner agreed to acquire FirstFleet for $245 million, boosting its dedicated fleet capacity by roughly 50% and strengthening its dedicated-transportation footprint and customer contracts — a near-term scale gain that should lift revenue and market share in higher-margin dedicated services. Werner Enterprises to Participate in Three Investment Conferences
• Positive Sentiment: Technical momentum is improving: coverage highlights rising relative price strength for WERN, which can attract momentum-driven buyers and ETFs that follow momentum screens. Stocks with rising relative price strength: Werner Enterprises
• Neutral Sentiment: Werner will present at three investor conferences in February (Stifel, Citi, and others), providing management more opportunities to outline the FirstFleet integration plan and growth targets — useful for transparency but not an immediate earnings driver. Werner Enterprises to Participate in Three Investment Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: An M&A call transcript and multiple trucking-industry write-ups provide more detail on integration and expected synergies; these help investors assess execution risk but don’t change the deal economics immediately. Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN) M&A Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst action is mixed: Robert W. Baird upgraded WERN from “underperform” to “neutral” but set a $34 price target, slightly below current levels — signaling limited near-term upside from some sell-side desks. Finviz
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term earnings risk remains: previews (Zacks) suggest the company may not have the right mix to beat the upcoming quarter, so expectations around margins and integration costs for FirstFleet will be important when results are reported. Werner Enterprises (WERN) Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth

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.