Barclays PLC Acquires 49,568 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Barclays PLC raised its stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 435,447 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 49,568 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.70% of Werner Enterprises worth $16,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 145.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 801 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 209.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,158 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Down 2.0 %

WERN traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.83. 547,629 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 498,746. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.12 and a 1-year high of $43.26. The stock's 50-day moving average is $38.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.19, a PEG ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 0.82.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $745.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $765.24 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.48% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.68 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is 76.71%.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.