Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Sets New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $29.00 to $24.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Werner Enterprises traded as low as $23.02 and last traded at $24.66, with a volume of 3528629 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.66.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.92.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WERN. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 69.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,176 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 796.3% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 47.38 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.53.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $712.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $738.41 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 2.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

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.