Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 61,074 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) by 79.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,656 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 61,074 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 77,471 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 19,578 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $788,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 4.1% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,556 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 4.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,118 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. 83.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WERN. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $57.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $54.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $54.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.28.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $44.24 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.96 and a 200-day moving average of $44.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.84 and a twelve month high of $50.31.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The transportation company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $832.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $857.09 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 30th. This is a positive change from Werner Enterprises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is 14.99%.

Werner Enterprises Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Werner Enterprises, Inc engages in the provision of logistics services. It operates through the Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics segments. The Truckload Transportation Services segment consists of one-way truckload and specialized services units such as the medium-to-long haul van fleet which provides a consumer non durable products and commodities in truckload quantities.