Morgan Stanley Cuts Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) Price Target to $52.00

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the transportation company’s stock.

WERN has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Werner Enterprises from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $39.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Werner Enterprises from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.36.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $37.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 0.79. Werner Enterprises has a 52-week low of $33.12 and a 52-week high of $43.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.76.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.06). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.48% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The company had revenue of $745.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $765.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Werner Enterprises’s revenue was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently 76.71%.

Institutional Trading of Werner Enterprises

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 34.9% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 327,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,829,000 after purchasing an additional 84,800 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 1,048.4% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 91,312 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,572,000 after buying an additional 83,361 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Werner Enterprises by 65.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 879,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,455,000 after acquiring an additional 348,154 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 542.7% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 32,963 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 27,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 252,504 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,047,000 after acquiring an additional 32,503 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company’s stock.

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.