US Bancorp DE Grows Stock Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 131.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,230 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,646 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the second quarter valued at about $225,000. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 2.2% during the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 23,008 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 7.3% during the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 36,784 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 306.9% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,294 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 413.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $24.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen cut Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $27.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $27.84 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.06. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week high of $42.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $753.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $736.09 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 0.92% and a net margin of 1.77%.The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that allows the company to buyback 5,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently 65.12%.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.