Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Stock

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) had its price target hoisted by Bank of America from $31.00 to $36.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underperform” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 15.13% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on WERN. Evercore raised shares of Werner Enterprises from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.62.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $42.42 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Werner Enterprises has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $47.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.67 and a 200-day moving average of $36.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -282.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.26.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.05. Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 0.66% and a negative net margin of 0.28%.The business had revenue of $730.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $812.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,201,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 205,654 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 30,812 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,750,034 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $82,529,000 after acquiring an additional 120,343 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,514,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $195,491,000 after purchasing an additional 90,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 180.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 578,761 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 372,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.