Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Price Target Cut to $39.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) had its price objective decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $42.00 to $39.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on WERN. Bank of America dropped their price target on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen raised their price target on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Werner Enterprises from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Werner Enterprises from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $35.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. Werner Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $34.67 and a fifty-two week high of $47.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.33.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $821.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.90 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 3.42%. Werner Enterprises’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

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