Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 291,602 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 21,487 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.47% of Werner Enterprises worth $11,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 390.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 740 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 145.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 801 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WERN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $39.62 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.12. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 54.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 33.53 and a beta of 0.80. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.12 and a 12-month high of $43.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $745.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $765.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

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.