Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Takes $2.52 Million Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 57,665 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,515,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.10% of Werner Enterprises at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 2nd quarter valued at about $128,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,261 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WERN. Robert W. Baird upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Susquehanna raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and cut their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $38.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.06 and a 12-month high of $47.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $40.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.96. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -50.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $813.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -73.68%.

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.