JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 145.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 210,389 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 124,574 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $7,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in Werner Enterprises by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 54,222 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,730,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $241,758,000 after buying an additional 32,228 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,717 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 1,870 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter valued at about $445,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 55,022 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WERN. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.71.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $27.36 on Thursday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.50 and a 52-week high of $42.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.75 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.30. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.15). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.13%. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.82%.

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.