Versor Investments LP Makes New Investment in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP has acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises, purchasing 15,089 shares valued at approximately $442,000 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Maple Rock Capital Partners and Wellington Management Group, have significantly increased their stakes in Werner Enterprises, showing strong institutional interest.
• Werner Enterprises declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.0%, and has initiated a stock repurchase program authorizing the buyback of 5 million shares, indicating management's belief the stock is undervalued.

Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,089 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 796.3% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 1,513 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 2,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,761 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Werner Enterprises stock traded down $0.6510 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $28.8990. The company's stock had a trading volume of 231,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 902,314. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.02 and a 52 week high of $42.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $28.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08.

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, 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 firm had revenue of $753.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.09 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is presently 65.12%.

Werner Enterprises declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, August 11th that allows the company to repurchase 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the transportation company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WERN. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Baird R W raised Werner Enterprises to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $30.50.

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.