Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $45.67 and last traded at $45.5430, with a volume of 51283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WERN has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Evercore raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.85.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -305.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.57.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $730.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $812.50 million. Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 0.66% and a negative net margin of 0.28%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is -373.33%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter worth about $34,201,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 205,654 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,172,000 after buying an additional 30,812 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,750,034 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $82,529,000 after buying an additional 120,343 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,491,000 after buying an additional 90,480 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 180.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 578,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,369,000 after buying an additional 372,629 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc, founded in 1956 by Clarence L. “Chris” Werner, is a leading transportation and logistics provider based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company began as a one?truck operation and has since grown into one of North America’s largest carriers, offering an array of services to support diverse supply chains.

Werner’s core business activities include full truckload dry van services, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal transport and brokerage solutions. The company also provides value-added services such as warehousing, freight management and fleet maintenance through its network of terminals and service centers.