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

Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.5385.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 17.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,405,606 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $453,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,170 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,491,000 after purchasing an additional 90,480 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,794,752 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $111,601,000 after purchasing an additional 148,826 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 11.1% in the first quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 3,055,017 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $89,848,000 after purchasing an additional 304,983 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 605.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $75,336,000 after purchasing an additional 2,154,428 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $36.43 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.68. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $23.06 and a 1 year high of $47.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -47.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 1.42% and a positive return on equity of 1.18%. The firm had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.