CW Advisors LLC Buys 15,586 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

• CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 28.7%, owning approximately 0.11% of the company worth $2,045,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Werner Enterprises reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.11, exceeding consensus estimates of $0.05, despite a year-over-year revenue decrease of 1.0%.
• The company announced a share buyback plan to repurchase 5,000,000 outstanding shares, signaling confidence in its stock valuation.

CW Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 28.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,808 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,586 shares during the quarter. CW Advisors LLC owned 0.11% of Werner Enterprises worth $2,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Werner Enterprises by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 40,375 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,450,000 after buying an additional 8,641 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,029 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Werner Enterprises in the 4th quarter worth about $2,791,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 37,186 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 2,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,738 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WERN shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

WERN stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $28.73. The company had a trading volume of 565,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 898,979. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.02 and a 12 month high of $42.48. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $28.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.72.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.06. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 0.92% and a net margin of 1.77%.The business had revenue of $753.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $736.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. Werner Enterprises's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, October 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.12%.

Werner Enterprises announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, August 11th that authorizes the company to buyback 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the transportation company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.