Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Shares Bought by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC increased its stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 1,048.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,312 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 83,361 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Werner Enterprises worth $3,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 139.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Hills Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter valued at $106,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 32,150.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,580 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3,763.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,627 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $35.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.80. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $769.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $788.30 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 6.15% and a net margin of 2.59%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WERN. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their target price on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.25.

About Werner Enterprises

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.