Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%.

Werner Enterprises has raised its dividend by an average of 6.9% annually over the last three years. Werner Enterprises has a payout ratio of 38.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Werner Enterprises to earn $1.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.4%.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ:WERN traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $39.59. 598,126 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 751,598. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 33.53 and a beta of 0.80. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $33.12 and a 1 year high of $43.26.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WERN. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.57.

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.