Arizona State Retirement System Reduces Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,835 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 308 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 23.1% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,334,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $167,059,000 after purchasing an additional 812,355 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,455,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,703,000 after buying an additional 750,562 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 220.6% during the 1st quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 846,704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,517,000 after buying an additional 582,604 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,974,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 2,103.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 400,163 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $16,407,000 after acquiring an additional 382,000 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.00.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $35.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.33. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.67 and a fifty-two week high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.05). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 3.42% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The firm had revenue of $821.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Werner Enterprises’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

Werner Enterprises Profile

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.