Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

WERN has been the subject of several other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $20.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $33.15.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $31.78 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.77. Werner Enterprises has a 1-year low of $23.02 and a 1-year high of $38.45.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $737.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $767.51 million. Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 0.48% and a positive return on equity of 0.04%. Werner Enterprises’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 13th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is -233.33%.

Insider Transactions at Werner Enterprises

In other Werner Enterprises news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,418 shares of Werner Enterprises stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $49,318.04. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 55,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,945,801.88. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 33.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,660 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 5,473 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 36,697 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 126,854 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,717,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 76,767 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,100,000 after acquiring an additional 15,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 159.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 226,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,186,000 after acquiring an additional 138,995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

About Werner Enterprises

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.