Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 7.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,262 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 16,014 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. owned 0.33% of Werner Enterprises worth $8,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,261 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 86.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,614 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 21.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA purchased a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of WERN stock opened at $38.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.06 and a fifty-two week high of $47.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.75.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 1.42%.The business had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Werner Enterprises’s quarterly revenue was up 24.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 5th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is -73.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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.