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

Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $44.25.

A number of research firms have commented on WERN. Stifel Nicolaus cut Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Barclays cut Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $36.15 on Tuesday. Werner Enterprises has a 1-year low of $35.02 and a 1-year high of $47.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.06 and its 200 day moving average is $39.41. The company has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

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

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.82%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 14.8% during the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 305,501 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,951,000 after acquiring an additional 39,445 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,892 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,021,000 after acquiring an additional 565,193 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 252,823 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,712,000 after acquiring an additional 40,548 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 40,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,735,000 after acquiring an additional 4,791 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.