Empowered Funds LLC Purchases New Shares in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC recently acquired 212,541 shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc., valued at approximately $6.2 million, marking a new stake for the investment firm.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Werner Enterprises, with three rating it as a Buy and others giving Hold and Sell ratings, resulting in an average target price of $30.43.
• Werner Enterprises announced a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, with plans for a $5 million stock repurchase program, signaling confidence in its stock valuation.

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 212,541 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $6,227,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.34% of Werner Enterprises as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,813,038 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $199,622,000 after purchasing an additional 82,581 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 5.0% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,641,546 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $106,697,000 after purchasing an additional 173,572 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 9.2% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,170,527 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $63,596,000 after purchasing an additional 183,340 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 10.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,835,187 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $53,844,000 after purchasing an additional 174,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,634,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.21. 115,591 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 874,389. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $28.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.02 and a 12 month high of $42.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 32.81, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Werner Enterprises declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that allows the company to repurchase 5,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, October 6th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is currently 65.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on WERN shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Three investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.