Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Werner Enterprises from a "sell" to a "hold" in a weekend research note.
• Despite some firms raising price targets, the street consensus remains "Reduce" with an average price target of $35.15 (2 Buy, 8 Hold, 5 Sell).
• In the latest quarter Werner reported EPS $0.02 (beating a -$0.03 estimate) but revenue of $730.14M missed the $812.50M consensus; shares trade around $35.91 and the P/E is deeply negative (-239.40).

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

WERN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut Werner Enterprises from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $35.15.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $35.91 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.46. Werner Enterprises has a 12-month low of $23.06 and a 12-month high of $38.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -239.40, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.24.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $730.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.50 million. Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 0.66% and a negative net margin of 0.28%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Werner Enterprises

In other Werner Enterprises news, COO Eric J. Downing sold 1,428 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $49,980.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 57,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,007,740. This trade represents a 2.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WERN. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 289.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,293 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,542 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 86.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,614 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

Werner Enterprises, Inc, founded in 1956 by Clarence L. “Chris” Werner, is a leading transportation and logistics provider based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company began as a one‐truck operation and has since grown into one of North America's largest carriers, offering an array of services to support diverse supply chains.

Werner's core business activities include full truckload dry van services, dedicated contract carriage, intermodal transport and brokerage solutions. The company also provides value-added services such as warehousing, freight management and fleet maintenance through its network of terminals and service centers.

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