Analysts Set Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) PT at $41.54

Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.5385.

Several research firms recently weighed in on WERN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 205,654 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after purchasing an additional 30,812 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,750,034 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $82,529,000 after acquiring an additional 120,343 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,491,000 after acquiring an additional 90,480 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Werner Enterprises by 180.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 578,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,369,000 after acquiring an additional 372,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,081,000. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $37.51 on Friday. Werner Enterprises has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $47.49. The firm has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -49.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 1.42%.The company had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 6th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently -73.68%.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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.