Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Barclays

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) was downgraded by stock analysts at Barclays from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $40.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $45.00. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 5.18% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on WERN. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $38.03 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.53. 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 twelve month low of $35.02 and a twelve month high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 EPS 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 company had revenue of $821.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Werner Enterprises will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,892 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $272,021,000 after purchasing an additional 565,193 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 266,056 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,273,000 after purchasing an additional 29,579 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 252,823 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,712,000 after purchasing an additional 40,548 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 40,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 4,791 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is owned by 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.