Stifel Nicolaus Boosts Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Price Target to $26.00

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) had its price target upped by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $22.00 to $26.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price points to a potential downside of 14.87% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Susquehanna cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $26.93.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $30.54 on Tuesday. Werner Enterprises has a 52 week low of $23.02 and a 52 week high of $38.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.49, a P/E/G ratio of 20.99 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.18). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 0.85% and a return on equity of 0.14%. The business had revenue of $712.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 1,642.2% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 620,855 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $18,191,000 after acquiring an additional 585,218 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the second quarter valued at about $12,972,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.2% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,893,705 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $79,172,000 after purchasing an additional 424,935 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the first quarter worth about $9,102,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 222.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 339,589 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,938,000 after buying an additional 234,394 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.