FORA Capital LLC Makes New $380,000 Investment in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,840 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WERN. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in Werner Enterprises by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,943,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $152,195,000 after purchasing an additional 776,277 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 37.1% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,665,309 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $59,668,000 after acquiring an additional 450,522 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 65.5% during the second 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 15.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,506,663 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,984,000 after acquiring an additional 201,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new stake in Werner Enterprises during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,000,000. 89.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “negative” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup began coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $40.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.00, a PEG ratio of 34.24 and a beta of 0.80. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.12 and a twelve month high of $43.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.32.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $765.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Werner Enterprises’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.71%.

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.