First Trust Advisors LP Has $45.51 Million Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,266,850 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 93,457 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 2.05% of Werner Enterprises worth $45,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WERN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,660,846 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $59,010,000 after purchasing an additional 143,953 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,730,457 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $241,758,000 after acquiring an additional 32,228 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 12.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 435,447 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $16,804,000 after acquiring an additional 49,568 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,479 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Werner Enterprises by 0.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 85,815 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WERN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $28.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays lowered their price target on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $34.00 to $27.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Werner Enterprises in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "hold" rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.07.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WERN traded down $1.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.55. The company had a trading volume of 631,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 800,868. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.09 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $29.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.50 and a 12 month high of $42.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.15). Werner Enterprises had a return on equity of 2.27% and a net margin of 1.13%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is 101.82%.

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.