American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

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American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,170,527 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 183,340 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 3.51% of Werner Enterprises worth $63,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 17.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 472,626 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $13,848,000 after purchasing an additional 68,864 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 27.4% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 196,181 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $5,748,000 after purchasing an additional 42,199 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the first quarter valued at about $4,937,000. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises during the first quarter worth about $385,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Werner Enterprises by 3.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 325,456 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $9,536,000 after acquiring an additional 11,246 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WERN. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of WERN stock traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $29.55. The company had a trading volume of 900,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,007,695. The company's fifty day moving average is $28.08 and its 200 day moving average is $28.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.63. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week high of $42.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.77% and a return on equity of 0.92%. The firm had revenue of $753.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, August 11th that allows the company to buyback 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the transportation company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, October 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.12%.

Werner Enterprises Profile

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.