Great Lakes Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 76,066 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,317,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WERN. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,405,606 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $453,788,000 after buying an additional 1,563,170 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 64,953 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,833,000 after acquiring an additional 9,832 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 384,481 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $16,767,000 after purchasing an additional 12,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 386.4% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,879 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 3,876 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Susquehanna raised Werner Enterprises from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. 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. Wall Street Zen raised Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 0.2%

WERN opened at $38.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $47.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -50.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.90.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 5th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently -73.68%.

About Werner Enterprises

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.