SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 210.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,043 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,594 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $1,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WERN. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,018 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Werner Enterprises by 306.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,294 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 413.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 1,147.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 7,377 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WERN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $22.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:WERN opened at $33.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 80.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.07. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.02 and a 12-month high of $38.60.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $712.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.63 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 0.85% and a return on equity of 0.14%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 5th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 5th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.59%.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc, founded in 1956 by Clarence L. “Chris” Werner, is a leading transportation and logistics provider based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company began as a one‐truck operation and has since grown into one of North America’s largest carriers, offering an array of services to support diverse supply chains.

Werner’s core business activities include full truckload dry van services, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal transport and brokerage solutions. The company also provides value-added services such as warehousing, freight management and fleet maintenance through its network of terminals and service centers.