Analysts Set Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Price Target at $44.50

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $44.25.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WERN shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report 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 cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $272,021,000 after acquiring an additional 565,193 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,518,370 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $205,541,000 after acquiring an additional 54,392 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,973,767 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $168,369,000 after acquiring an additional 282,210 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,811,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $161,484,000 after acquiring an additional 33,906 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,409,733 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $98,799,000 after acquiring an additional 79,912 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

WERN opened at $36.15 on Tuesday. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $35.02 and a 1 year high of $47.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.05). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 3.42%. The business had revenue of $821.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $820.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. Werner Enterprises’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. 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 1.55%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

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.