Verition Fund Management LLC Takes $485,000 Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,573 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 2.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,879 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 17,221 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Werner Enterprises by 145.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 801 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,071 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 7.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 9,820 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN opened at $40.12 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.96, a PEG ratio of 33.89 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.12 and a 12 month high of $43.26.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $745.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $765.24 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.48% and a return on equity of 3.58%. Werner Enterprises’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.68 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, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WERN shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “negative” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Profile

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.