Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Short Interest Update

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,940,000 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the October 15th total of 3,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 688,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days. Approximately 6.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WERN. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 362,786 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $14,000,000 after purchasing an additional 16,637 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 65.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 879,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $31,455,000 after acquiring an additional 348,154 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 14.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 252,504 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,047,000 after acquiring an additional 32,503 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 90.8% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 176,164 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,892,000 after acquiring an additional 83,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,506,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,984,000 after purchasing an additional 201,843 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “sell” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $39.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 54.27, a P/E/G ratio of 34.03 and a beta of 0.80. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $33.12 and a 1 year high of $43.26.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $745.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $765.24 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 1.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Werner Enterprises

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.