Wall Street Zen Downgrades Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) to Sell

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WERN. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $20.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.14.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $33.21 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Werner Enterprises has a twelve month low of $23.02 and a twelve month high of $38.45. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -138.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.08.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $737.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $767.51 million. Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 0.48% and a positive return on equity of 0.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WERN. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 57.8% in the second quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,018 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 289.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,293 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 961 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 799 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, 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.