Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.57.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group lowered Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $39.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $37.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.72, a P/E/G ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $37.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.69. Werner Enterprises has a one year low of $33.12 and a one year high of $43.26.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The transportation company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $760.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.81 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 4.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 9.7% in 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. Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 7.4% in the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,167,616 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $113,496,000 after acquiring an additional 219,074 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 37.1% in the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,665,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,668,000 after acquiring an additional 450,522 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 3.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,516,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $58,537,000 after acquiring an additional 56,551 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 15.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,506,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,984,000 after acquiring an additional 201,843 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.