Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) to Issue $0.14 Quarterly Dividend

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 14th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, July 17th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st.

Werner Enterprises has increased its dividend by an average of 6.9% per year over the last three years. Werner Enterprises has a payout ratio of 25.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Werner Enterprises to earn $2.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.2%.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WERN opened at $35.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.83. Werner Enterprises has a 12-month low of $33.12 and a 12-month high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.14). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 6.15%. The firm had revenue of $769.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $788.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WERN. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays cut their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.25.

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.