Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Short Interest Update

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,940,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the October 15th total of 3,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 688,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days. Currently, 6.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $39.62 on Friday. Werner Enterprises has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $43.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 54.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.09.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.06). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 1.48%. The business had revenue of $745.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $765.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Werner Enterprises will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 24.5% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,943,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,195,000 after purchasing an additional 776,277 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 37.1% in the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,665,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,668,000 after buying an additional 450,522 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,516,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,537,000 after buying an additional 56,551 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,506,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,984,000 after acquiring an additional 201,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 65.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 879,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,455,000 after acquiring an additional 348,154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.