Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 69,448 Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio initiated a 69,448-share position in Werner Enterprises valued at approximately $3.0 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 89.32% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $41.54. Recent upgrades from Susquehanna and Robert W. Baird were offset by cautious ratings from other firms.
• Werner reported quarterly revenue of $813.36 million and earnings of $0.22 per share, missing analyst expectations, though revenue increased 24% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, equivalent to a 1.4% annual yield.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 69,448 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $3,029,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.12% of Werner Enterprises at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 17.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,405,606 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $453,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,170 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,794,752 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $111,601,000 after purchasing an additional 148,826 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 3,055,017 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $89,848,000 after buying an additional 304,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 605.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,510,354 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $75,336,000 after buying an additional 2,154,428 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WERN shares. Susquehanna upgraded Werner Enterprises from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $40.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.12. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.06 and a 1-year high of $47.49. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of -52.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 1.42%.The firm had revenue of $813.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.14 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 5th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Werner Enterprises's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -73.68%.

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.

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