Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Holdings Reduced by Empower Advisory Group LLC

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC significantly reduced its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 97.7% during the first quarter, leaving it with only 8,877 shares worth $260,000.
• Analyst ratings for Werner Enterprises show a mixed sentiment, with six analysts rating it as a sell, seven as hold, and three as buy; the current consensus rating is "Hold" with a target price of $30.50.
• Werner Enterprises reported a net decline in revenue of 1.0% year-over-year and earnings per share of $0.11, beating estimates but lower than last year's $0.17.

Empower Advisory Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 97.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,877 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 370,359 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WERN. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 69.7% in the first 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 during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 796.3% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 1,513 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 15.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,937 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 69.1% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WERN. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Werner Enterprises from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 3.3%

Werner Enterprises stock opened at $26.69 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $27.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.02 and a 1-year high of $42.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $753.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.09 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.77% and a return on equity of 0.92%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, July 7th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 7th. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is currently 65.12%.

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.

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