Nuance Investments LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Nuance Investments LLC lowered its position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 87.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,945 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,330,580 shares during the period. Werner Enterprises makes up about 1.4% of Nuance Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Nuance Investments LLC owned approximately 0.32% of Werner Enterprises worth $8,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 605.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $75,336,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154,428 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1,361.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,921,152 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $56,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789,653 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,405,606 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $453,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563,170 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 539.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,670,737 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $50,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 572.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,297,054 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $38,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,160 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WERN. UBS Group upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 0.6%

WERN stock opened at $39.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.27. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $47.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 1.42%.The business had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.12 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is -73.68%.

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.