Simplex Trading LLC Buys New Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Simplex Trading LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,789 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WERN. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 69.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,176 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 796.3% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,701 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,761 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Susquehanna increased their price target 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. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN stock traded up $2.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.17. The company had a trading volume of 232,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 901,979. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.88. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a one year low of $23.02 and a one year high of $42.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08. 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 (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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 approved a share repurchase program on Monday, August 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase 5,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the transportation company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 6th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is currently 65.12%.

About Werner Enterprises

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.