MetLife Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 5.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,499 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,035 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Werner Enterprises worth $1,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuance Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,943,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,195,000 after buying an additional 776,277 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 37.1% in the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,665,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,668,000 after acquiring an additional 450,522 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,516,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $58,537,000 after purchasing an additional 56,551 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,506,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,984,000 after purchasing an additional 201,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 65.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 879,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $31,455,000 after purchasing an additional 348,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WERN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup began coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

WERN stock opened at $39.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.43. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.12 and a 52-week high of $43.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.93, a PEG ratio of 34.29 and a beta of 0.82.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.06). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 3.58% and a net margin of 1.48%. The company had revenue of $745.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $765.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is 76.71%.

Werner Enterprises 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.