Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $111.20 Million Stock Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in Werner Enterprises by 2.8% in the first quarter, now owning approximately 6.13% of the company valued at $111.2 million.
• Several analysts have adjusted their price targets for Werner Enterprises, with TD Cowen setting a target of $30.00 and Goldman Sachs raising it to $39.00, reflecting varying sentiments on the stock.
• Werner Enterprises announced a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.9%, and approved a plan to repurchase 5 million shares of its stock.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,795,180 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 108,705 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 6.13% of Werner Enterprises worth $111,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WERN. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake 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 valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 15.9% in 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 last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Werner Enterprises by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,701 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,761 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Finally, Crestline Management LP bought a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

WERN traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.78. 160,636 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 899,043. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $0.11 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $736.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 stock buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that permits the company to repurchase 5,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the transportation company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 6th. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is currently 65.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WERN. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $25.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. TD Cowen dropped 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. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Werner Enterprises to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Werner Enterprises 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.