Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 12th

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 20th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th.

Werner Enterprises has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Werner Enterprises has a dividend payout ratio of 19.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Werner Enterprises to earn $2.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.0%.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:WERN opened at $38.53 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.92. Werner Enterprises has a fifty-two week low of $35.02 and a fifty-two week high of $47.27.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The transportation company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $821.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.90 million. Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 3.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 135.2% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 821 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 92.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WERN. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays cut shares of Werner Enterprises from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.50.

About Werner Enterprises

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.