Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 198,262 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 16,014 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $8,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 605.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $75,336,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154,428 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1,361.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,921,152 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789,653 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 539.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,670,737 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409,556 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 572.4% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,297,054 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,160 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter valued at $23,813,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $38.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.16, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.27. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $47.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.75. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 1.42% and a positive return on equity of 1.18%. The firm had revenue of $813.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -73.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WERN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Susquehanna raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Werner Enterprises from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.54.

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.