Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $44.50.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Barclays lowered Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 0.8 %

WERN stock opened at $36.52 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.13 and its 200 day moving average is $39.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.78. Werner Enterprises has a 1-year low of $35.02 and a 1-year high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $821.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $820.90 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 3.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is 31.82%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WERN. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,268,348 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $96,110,000 after acquiring an additional 812,563 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 23.1% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,334,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $167,059,000 after purchasing an additional 812,355 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter worth $33,536,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 220.6% in the first quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 846,704 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $38,517,000 after purchasing an additional 582,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,021,000 after purchasing an additional 565,193 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.