Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on WERN. Citigroup upped their price target on Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Susquehanna downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a positive rating to a neutral rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.06.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ WERN opened at $43.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.84. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $35.84 and a 1 year high of $50.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.46.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The transportation company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $861.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.51 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 17.34% and a net margin of 7.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, April 17th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WERN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 20.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 238,975 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,798,000 after acquiring an additional 40,108 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 50.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 38.9% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 69,575 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,853,000 after acquiring an additional 19,471 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 0.6% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 211,666 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 8.7% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 21,941 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares during the period. 83.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Werner Enterprises

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Werner Enterprises, Inc engages in the provision of logistics services. It operates through the Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics segments. The Truckload Transportation Services segment consists of one-way truckload and specialized services units such as the medium-to-long haul van fleet which provides a consumer non durable products and commodities in truckload quantities.