Kennedy Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

by · The Cerbat Gem

Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN – Free Report) by 1,286.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,940 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 165,105 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 0.29% of Werner Enterprises worth $4,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 389.0% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 7,624 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 15.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,813,038 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $199,622,000 after purchasing an additional 82,581 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 21.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 853,258 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,000,000 after purchasing an additional 149,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 74.0% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 131,597 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,856,000 after purchasing an additional 55,965 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:WERN opened at $29.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.59. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.02 and a 1 year high of $40.16. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.12, a PEG ratio of 13.92 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.31.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $712.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.63 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 0.14% and a net margin of 0.85%.Werner Enterprises’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, August 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the transportation company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 5th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is presently 136.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WERN. Bank of America cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $26.93.

Get Our Latest Research Report on WERN

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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