Bank of America Trims Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Target Price to $34.00

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) had its price target trimmed by Bank of America from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on WERN. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays cut shares of Werner Enterprises from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their target price for the company from $45.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $44.25.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of WERN opened at $35.39 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78. Werner Enterprises has a 1 year low of $34.67 and a 1 year high of $47.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.36.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $821.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.90 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 3.42% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WERN. Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 2,268,348 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $96,110,000 after acquiring an additional 812,563 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,334,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,059,000 after buying an additional 812,355 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter valued at $33,536,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 220.6% in the 1st quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 846,704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,517,000 after buying an additional 582,604 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,420,141 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $272,021,000 after buying an additional 565,193 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.