Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,817 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 13.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,055 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,817 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,813,038 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $199,622,000 after purchasing an additional 82,581 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 5.0% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,641,546 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $106,697,000 after purchasing an additional 173,572 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,121,696 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 19,370 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 10.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,835,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,844,000 after purchasing an additional 174,341 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter worth about $35,257,000. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WERN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $28.31 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $27.98 and a 200-day moving average of $29.17. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.02 and a 1 year high of $42.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.08.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $753.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $736.09 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.77% and a return on equity of 0.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.12%.

Werner Enterprises announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, August 11th that permits the company to buyback 5,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.