Royce & Associates LP Acquires New Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Werner Enterprises, buying 136,000 shares worth about $4.08 million and representing roughly 0.23% of the company.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their stakes, and hedge funds now own 89.32% of Werner Enterprises’ stock.
• Werner recently reported quarterly EPS of $0.02, beating expectations, while revenue rose 13.6% year over year but still came in below estimates; analysts currently have a consensus rating of “Reduce” with an average price target of $35.15.

Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 136,000 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $4,081,000. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.23% of Werner Enterprises as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 33.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 21,660 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 5,473 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 36,697 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 126,854 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 24.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 76,767 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,100,000 after purchasing an additional 15,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 159.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 226,085 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,186,000 after purchasing an additional 138,995 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WERN. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 note on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $35.15.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $41.51 on Friday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.06 and a 52-week high of $42.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.91 and a 200 day moving average of $31.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -276.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.24.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $730.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.50 million. Werner Enterprises had a negative net margin of 0.28% and a positive return on equity of 0.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.12) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 6th. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is currently -373.33%.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

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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