Blue Trust Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 794 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 364 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $28,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the third quarter worth about $250,000. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,593 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 145.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 801 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 18,830 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises during the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “negative” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.36.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $37.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.76. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $43.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.42, a P/E/G ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 0.80.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.06). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 1.48%. The company had revenue of $745.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $765.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.71%.

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.