Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 74.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 131,597 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 55,965 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.21% of Werner Enterprises worth $3,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,813,038 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $199,622,000 after purchasing an additional 82,581 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 5.0% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,641,546 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $106,697,000 after acquiring an additional 173,572 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,121,696 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $76,211,000 after acquiring an additional 19,370 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 10.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,835,187 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $53,844,000 after acquiring an additional 174,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises during the fourth quarter valued at $35,257,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 0.3%

WERN traded up $0.08 on Monday, reaching $28.09. 285,915 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 907,677. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a one year low of $23.02 and a one year high of $42.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.00.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $753.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Werner Enterprises's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that authorizes the company to buyback 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the transportation company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Werner Enterprises's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WERN shares. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an "underperform" rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.50.

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.