Stifel Financial Corp Sells 129,511 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Stifel Financial Corp trimmed its position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 54,559 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 129,511 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $2,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 2.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,879 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 145.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 801 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,071 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 9,820 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 209.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,158 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WERN shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “negative” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price objective on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $36.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.82, a PEG ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 0.82. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.12 and a fifty-two week high of $43.26. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.53.

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

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.