287,949 Shares in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN Acquired by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 287,949 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,557,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,029,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,144,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,042,000. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the second quarter valued at about $529,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the second quarter worth about $2,031,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WERN. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.54.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ WERN opened at $38.42 on Friday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $47.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -50.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Werner Enterprises had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 1.42%.The business had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. Werner Enterprises’s revenue was up 24.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5th. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is presently -73.68%.

About Werner Enterprises

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.