Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $32.31 and last traded at $32.48, with a volume of 744178 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $32.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WERN. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.29.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.05 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.15). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 2.27%. As a group, analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is 101.82%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,730,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $241,758,000 after buying an additional 32,228 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,943,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,195,000 after buying an additional 776,277 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,121,696 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $76,211,000 after buying an additional 19,370 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,987,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $71,380,000 after purchasing an additional 234,811 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,660,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,010,000 after purchasing an additional 143,953 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in transporting truckload shipments of general commodities in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics.