Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $2.79 Million Investment in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 77,696 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $2,791,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Werner Enterprises at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,308 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the third quarter valued at $96,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,976 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WERN shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Werner Enterprises from $32.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "hold" rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut shares of Werner Enterprises from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.92.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 5.0 %

Shares of WERN stock traded up $1.24 on Friday, reaching $26.14. 1,047,104 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 816,896. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.31 and a 200-day moving average of $34.60. The company has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.61 and a beta of 1.06. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a one year low of $23.02 and a one year high of $42.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $712.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $738.41 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.13%. The firm's revenue was down 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. Werner Enterprises's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 193.10%.

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.