Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $35.15.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $36.38 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.69. Werner Enterprises has a 1-year low of $23.06 and a 1-year high of $38.46. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -242.53, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.24.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $730.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.50 million. Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 0.66% and a negative net margin of 0.28%.The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $49,980.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 57,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,007,740. This trade represents a 2.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,491,000 after acquiring an additional 90,480 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,794,752 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $111,601,000 after acquiring an additional 148,826 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,058,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $80,511,000 after acquiring an additional 165,233 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 3,055,017 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $89,848,000 after acquiring an additional 304,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 605.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $75,336,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.