Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Invests $34.20 Million in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,139,653 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,201,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 1.90% of Werner Enterprises at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth $12,972,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.2% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,893,705 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $79,172,000 after buying an additional 424,935 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 222.8% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 339,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,938,000 after buying an additional 234,394 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 49.1% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 704,775 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,283,000 after buying an additional 232,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 52.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 573,891 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,105,000 after acquiring an additional 197,155 shares during the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Citigroup raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.15.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 0.1%

WERN opened at $28.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.65. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week high of $38.45. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -119.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $737.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.51 million. Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 0.04% and a negative net margin of 0.48%.Werner Enterprises’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 13th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 13th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently -233.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Werner Enterprises news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,418 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $49,318.04. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 55,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,945,801.88. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Profile

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.