Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) COO Eric Downing Sells 1,428 Shares of Stock

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) COO Eric Downing sold 1,428 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $49,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 57,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,007,740. This trade represents a 2.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $32.80 on Tuesday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week high of $38.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.67, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.30.

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, equities analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 13th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is -233.33%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 605.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $75,336,000 after buying an additional 2,154,428 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 539.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter valued at $34,201,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 572.4% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,297,054 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,160 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter worth about $23,813,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Werner Enterprises in a report on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $33.14.

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.