287,949 Shares in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN Acquired by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 287,949 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,557,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.48% of Werner Enterprises as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 205,654 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,172,000 after purchasing an additional 30,812 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the 1st quarter worth about $1,119,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,491,000 after buying an additional 90,480 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 180.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 578,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,369,000 after acquiring an additional 372,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,081,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Werner Enterprises from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. 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 note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Stephens raised Werner Enterprises to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WERN stock opened at $38.42 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.06 and a fifty-two week high of $47.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released 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 business had revenue of $813.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. Werner Enterprises’s revenue was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently -73.68%.

Werner Enterprises 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.