Quest Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 1,732.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,298 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,463 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WERN. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Werner Enterprises by 390.1% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 740 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter worth about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Werner Enterprises in the first quarter worth about $43,000. 89.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seven investment 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

NASDAQ:WERN traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.93. The stock had a trading volume of 308,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,111. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.53. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.12 and a 52 week high of $43.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of 54.70, a PEG ratio of 33.26 and a beta of 0.80.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Werner Enterprises's payout ratio is currently 76.71%.

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.